Golden Gods
by Ninnasims3
Summary: Having been scarred for life and having chosen a faction, she enrolls herself into the Academy. While her scars restrict her from feeling, her spark can't help but reach out for someone. But can they stick together when the time comes? Will an unexpected ordeal make them stronger or will it destroy everything they had? In one moment, all of our fate can be sealed. Sunstreaker/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome everyone to my new story! It's been mentioned a lot of times in my 'Two Worlds, One Family' (Ironhide/OC) story and I have decided to finally bring this to life! I've been plotting on it for a long time and it's going to take even longer to write it, but I don't mind! This story is going to be a very long one and is going to be a Sunstreaker/OC story. God knows how much I love that hot, snobbish mech. **

**You may not use this story, the plot, the ideas, anything from it unless I give you permission to do so. Names are all mine, you may not use a single name that you do not recognize. Those are my made up names and mine alone. I do not own Transformers, as if you all didn't know that by now.**

**So I only hope you will enjoy this story and stick with me until the very end! So without further adieu, I present to you 'Golden Gods'!**

**Cybertronian time units to Earth time units:**

**Astrosecond/nano-klik = 1 second**

**Klik = 1 minute**

**Cycle = 1 hour**

**Quartex = 1 week (or a quarter of any time unit)**

**Stellar cycle = 1 year**

**Millenia - 1.000.000 years (or 1 year of Cybertronian age)**

**You don't have to know all these time units, I won't be using many of them.**

**Chapter 1: In The Beginning**

"This is for disrespecting your father, you insolent brat!" I heard before I felt a strong pain in my back. I let out a scream of agony.

"Railgun, please, don't do this!" My mother screamed for him to stop.

"Stay out of this, Vectra! This is the last time they brought shame to our family and they will learn their lesson!" my father roared as another pang of pain landed right on the side of my abdominal area. I screamed for him to stop, but he wouldn't listen.

"Those are your sparklings, Railgun!" she held my brother away from him. "I won't let you hurt them!"

"Give me that two-bit!" he roared as he shoved me to the ground and I felt the energon coming from my mouth. A punch was what caused my lower lip plate to rupture and bleed. I felt my whole body shake with fear.

"Get away from him, you've lost your mind!" she screamed. I have to get to my carrier!

"I said, give him to me!" he slapped her across the cheek as she fell to the ground. He snatched my brother from her arms, pushing him down so he fell hard on the ground.

"Stay back, you freak!" My brother yelled at him, even though his optics were filled with fear.

"You dare call me a freak?!" Railgun's optics shone red, a drastic comparison to his normal dark blue eyes. "I am your father, you glitched idiot!" he lunged at him, but Silvershot got out of his way, standing up with trembling legs.

"Railgun, enough!" Vectra yelled at him, coming to my side to help me get up. He didn't hear her.

"Momma…" I looked up at her with tears streaming down my face. I hugged her tightly. "Make him stop, we didn't do anything…"

"It's okay, my little angel." She kissed the top of my head. "See that door?" she pointed to the main door of our house. She took a quick look back. Railgun was distracted. "Run."

"But Silvershot and you-"

"Run!" She yelled, pushing me up as I headed straight for the door. She stood up to my father. "Railgun, this is the last time I-!"

My father came out of nowhere, punching my mother hard across the face. "Momma!" I screamed with fear. She collapsed on the ground and didn't get up.

"Run Goldstreak!" Silvershot yelled at me, running my way. I was frozen. I couldn't believe my carriers were fighting and I couldn't believe my father had lost his mind! "Run!"

I couldn't move for the sake of me. Fear had overtaken my whole body, leaving me still in my place.

Silvershot swooped his arms under my knees and armpits, carrying me out of the house. I clung onto him as he ran through the various streets of our beloved Praxus. It was late in the evening and we shouldn't be outside this late.

He ran ifar away, into a dark alley, hiding us behind a dumpster. It was a poorly lit alley, with only one headlamp lighting the alleyway. It provided very little visibility.

Silvershot panted, putting me down to the ground. I immediately noticed the torn faceplates on his forehead. "Silvershot, you're bleeding." I said, moving my hands towards him to clean the wound as much as I could, as gently as possible. He moved my hand away from him by shoving it.

"When I tell you to run, you run!" he yelled at me.

"I was scared!"

"There's no room for fear when your life is in danger, Goldstreak!"

"Don't you yell at me!" I glared at him with determination. Nobody is ever going to yell at me again.

His optics brightened with anger and then he relaxed, his optics returning to their normal shine. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Shot." I sighed, bringing my knees to my chest. "It's Railgun. It's always been Railgun." I pressed my forehead against my knees. "What are we going to do? We have nowhere to go."

He nodded, sitting and lying on the wall next to me. We spent many minutes in silence, and I could hear him fiddling with the wound on his forehead, before he spoke up. "The boot camp."

"What?" I looked up at him. His optics were out of focus, staring at nothingness in front of him.

"The Autobot boot camp. We can go there. They'll accept us." His forearms rested on his knees, his left servo bloodied from touching his wound.

"They'll accept _you_, I'm underage." I said. "Besides, I'm not made for war. I'm a femme."

"You think anybody is going to care that you're a femme? The standard applies to everyone, underage and overage alike. Do _you_ have any better idea?" he gave me a glare.

"We aren't even Autobots to begin with!" I retorted. "Railgun and Vectra never chose sides!"

"We can become Autobots by joining them."

"Just so we can save our afts? No, Silvershot. If we are going to choose a faction, we'll do it like we should. Not because we can't think of a better way to save ourselves." I shook my head, sighing and looking up. It was a starry night above us.

"And what do you expect, Goldstreak?" he looked towards me, seeing my optics turned to the skies. "A sign from Primus to tell you that you have to become an Autobot? That's not going to happen. And in case you haven't noticed, we don't have any energon and if we don't get to a safe place, the night guard is going to find us. Then all pit will break loose."

He was right, even for an 18 millenia old mech. I was two millenias younger than him, and still he behaved like he was _much _older.

I didn't say anything. We both knew he was right. "Now come on, we have to get to the boot camp. Transform."

I nodded, following suit. I transformed and followed him as we swerved through the dark streets of Praxus. Half a cycle had passed when we almost exited Praxus, but then he suddenly stopped. "There's someone here. Hide into that garage." He said as I followed him into an open garage. I didn't hear anything.

A couple of astroseconds passed and I heard some voices. "He only punched him twice in the stomach and already he was knocked out cold!" the voice laughed.

Another one emerged as well, as I could see two guards patrolling the area. "I know, right! And he calls himself a guard! Ha ha!" they laughed together as soon they passed the garage me and my brother were hiding in.

I slowly drove in reverse, not paying attention to my sensors, instead just trying to move away as further as possible and as deeper into the garage. I accidentally hit something, causing it to make a lot of noise by falling to the ground, and it didn't go unnoticed by the guards.

"You hear that?"

"Let's go check it out."

Their headlights turned on, as they walked towards the garage Silvershot and I were hiding in. Oh slag, I was so going to get it.

"Goldstreak, up." he said transforming, so I transformed as well. I looked up, only to find a hole in the ceiling. "I'll lift you, you pull me through, got it?"

I nodded as I put my foot onto his palms and he lifted me up. As I got to the second floor, I gave him my hand, trying to pull him up. He was too heavy for me. "I can't, Shot, I don't have the strength!" I whisper-yelled.

"You better find the strength or I'll find it for you!" he threatened.

I put my feet on the edges of the hole, pushing with my legs and pulling him with my arms. Somehow, I managed to get him up to his waist level and he climbed up from the on. "Good one." He said.

I only gave him a nod as this time, trying to even out my breathing as he held me close to him so that I wouldn't make another sound. "Not a sound." He whispered into my audios as he put his hand over my mouth.

"I swear to Primus it came from here." One of the guards said.

"Well there's nothing here. Probably just a robo-rat."

"I thought they were extinct from Praxus?"

"No, some are still here. Come on, let's get moving, we have more ground to cover." The other guard said, turning off their headlights as Silvershot and I watched them from the hole in the ceiling. We waited for two kliks to pass as he gently let me go.

"I'll go down first, then we continue." Silvershot ordered. "And be more careful. I can't turn around because of you all the time."

I rolled my optics. "Alright, fine, let's just go." I said as he carefully and as quietly as possible got down from the ceiling and raised his arms up for me to fall into them. We continued our search for the one and only boot camp in Praxus on foot. "Do you know how far we need to walk to get there?" I asked him.

"Not far. We covered most." He shortly said. "See that building?" he pointed to a three story building with a huge field surrounding it. "That's the boot camp."

"I never imagined it to be this large." I muttered as we closed in on the entrance, walking straight into the field.

It was more than obvious that we shouldn't have come at this hour, but we had no other choice. We needed shelter. And it was about time we chose a faction anyway.

A gray guard greeted us. "The boot camp is inoperative at this moment. Please return tomorrow at 6 cycles tomorrow."

"We want to enroll ourselves." Silvershot straightened himself up.

"The boot camp is inoperative at this moment." The guard dully replied.

"We need to get in there." I said.

"What part of 'we're closed' do you not understand?" the guard replied angrily.

"You cannot deny us access to the facility! It's open to any and all Transformers at all times!" Silvershot yelled. A light suddenly turned on inside the building.

The guard turned around, noticing his shadow on the ground. "Now you've waken up the camp's commander. He won't be pleased." He slyly said.

"He?" I said as I looked at Silvershot who held a straight face. The door of the facility opened, revealing a black and white mech. He walked up to us with an air of authority around him, back straight as door wings stood straight from his back. He looked very serious.

"What is the problem?" he asked the guard, looking at him with his blue eyes.

"These visitors refuse to leave." He said, glancing at us.

"Are they Neutrals?" he asked him. The guard shrugged. "Are you Neutrals?" he asked us.

"Yes." Silvershot said as I only nodded. He was certainly taller than me.

"You are welcome to enter." The mech said. "I am Prowl, the camp's commander and Autobots' military strategist."

"I am Silvershot." My brother introduced himself, bowing slightly. "This is my younger sister, Goldstreak."

I bowed as well, my manners kicking in. "It is a pleasure to meet you, sir."

His face was void of any emotion, which was a little odd. "I see you are well disciplined. Come inside, we need to fill out certain forms for your trainings." He said as he turned on his heel, taking a step towards the entrance. Silvershot and I walked right behind him, but then he suddenly stopped in his tracks. His head turned slightly to the right, enough for all of us to see the profile of his face. "Guard, if I ever see you repelling Neutrals from entering this facility, it will be you who will lose your right from entering. Do you comprehend?"

"Yes, sir." He immediately said, performing a military salute and standing up straight.

Prowl continued to walk forwards as we entered the facility. Its walls were colored dark grey and didn't have any paintings on them. They were bare.

He walked behind a counter, reaching for two data pads. He gave them to us. "You will fill these forms now." he said as we turned the pads on and started to type information about us into the empty brackets.

A couple of minutes passed as Silvershot and I finished filling them, handing them over to Prowl.

He looked at them, assessing them quite quickly. "You seem like good candidates for training. I see you have already attended some self-defense trainings." He glanced at my brother. "Your quarters are located on the second floor, quarters 2B. Let me show you all that you must know." He coherently said, walking through a hallway. "This is where your other members will be." He pointed towards the rooms. We quickly saw our room's number and memorized it.

We walked until the end of the corner and turned right. "This is the refueling area. On the other side of this hallway, you will find the cleaning area. I will send you all the information you need tomorrow morning." He said as we walked back to our room. "This is your key." He handed us a light blue, card shaped key that was a little transparent. "There will be certain rules in this boot camp. I will repeat, tomorrow will be the first day of your training. It would be wise to get up at 5 cycles tomorrow, so you will have time to adjust yourselves."

"We are sorry to bother you at this hour, Prowl." I said. It was 3 cycles in the morning and it was only getting later.

"It's _sir._" He sternly said.

"Sorry." I said as Silverbolt nudged me. I immediately caught on. "Sir."

He gave us one last look before going out of the hallway, turning and disappearing upstairs.

I put the key into the slot as it clicked open. I pushed door, revealing a dark room. "Lights at 20%." I said as they automatically turned on, but were dim as I ordered them to be. We were greeted by two midsize recharge berths, a display which would present all the information we needed and a separate room as the disposal area.

"So this is what it's like to be in here." Silvershot muttered. "Berths aren't anything special." He said as he walked towards one.

"Anything's better than being stuck with Railgun." I said, but then I saddened. I walked to my berth and laid on my stomach. "What do you think will happen to Vectra?" I turned my head towards him as he laid on his back on the berth.

"She'll be alright." He assured me. "She can take care of herself."

"I know, but… I don't want Railgun to lay another finger on her."

"And he won't, not unless we train. Train hard and don't stop." He determinedly said. "Go to recharge, Goldstreak. We had enough trouble for today."

"Right." I said, closing my optics. "Lights at 2%." I said as I yawned.

"Don't forget to set your alarm, Gold." He reminded me. I set my internal alarm to wake me up at exactly 5 cycles in the morning.

"Will do." I sleepily said as I let my body relax, my mind entering recharge mode.

Tomorrow was going to be pit. I could just feel it.

**There you have it folks, the first official chapter of 'Golden Gods'! I hope you liked this. If there is some or any confusion at all, leave it in a review. I will try to explain all that I can:**

**The Autobot boot camp is like a training facility. It's like the very beginning of training lessons, as you will read in the second chapter. Railgun and Vectra are Silvershot's and Goldstreak's parents. If there is further confusion, anything, just let me know. Also, 18 millenia years old means 18 years old. So these two are quite young. There are just factions to be chosen, but no war is at hand. Yet.**

**So I hope I covered all that might have been confusing to you. Review, fave, follow, because I know you will like this story. Perhaps even love it.**

**Written: **

**19.04.2014.**


	2. Adjust

**Thank you for the kind reviews, favorites and follows! :)**

**Cybertronian time units to Earth time units:**

**Astrosecond/nano-klik = 1 second**

**Klik = 1 minute**

**Breem = 8 minutes**

**Cycle = 1 hour**

**Quartex = 1 week (or a quarter of any time unit)**

**Stellar cycle = 1 year**

**Millenia - 1.000.000 years (or 1 year of Cybertronian age)**

**Chapter 2: Adjust**

Not only did my alarm wake me up at exactly 5 cycles in the morning, but the whole facility had an integrated alarm into it. Boot camp life started early and I had to get used to waking up at such times.

I rolled on my side and turned off my audios. Just five more minutes.

I felt a harsh shaking on my shoulder. I turned on my audios immediately. "Get up." It was Silvershot.

I shoved him away with my arm. "Five more minutes." I sleepily said.

"Get up now or I'll push you out of berth." He added sharply.

I propped myself up on my elbows, sitting up on the berth. "Fine, killjoy." I sent him a glare.

"Learn to respect the rules." He lectured, crossing his arms. "Prowl has sent us the data packet about this camp's rules. It would be wise if you read them."

"You're acting overly mature, I'll tell you that." I swung my legs over the berth, noticing how my silver paint was badly chipped. Railgun's doing.

When one part of my processor thought of Railgun, the other part of it thought of Vectra. I hoped my momma was alright. I didn't like the fact that I could do nothing to see if she was alright.

He only sighed and crossed his arms across his silver plated chest. "Read."

I focused my optics on the screen on the wall. There were lines and lines of rules that had to be respected at all times. "This is boring." I said, barely finishing with reading the second rule. "Rules are meant to be broken." I said in a tone hinting on me wanting to break the rules.

I felt a nudge on my shoulder. "Rules are meant to be obeyed, you glitch." He glared at me. "And hurry with reading. Refueling is in thirty kliks." Silvershot said and exited the quarters, taking the key to them with him. At least I could open the quarters from the inside, from the outside they were locked.

So I read the rules on the screen. Couldn't hurt, right?

'_Onlining: 5 cycles. Refueling: 5 cycles 30 kliks. Preliminary training session: 6 cycles. Hand to hand combat training session: 10 cycles. Refueling: 12 cycles. Stealth training session: 13 cycles. Medical research: 17 cycles. Strategy training sessions: 19 cycles. Refueling: 21 cycles.'_

Are they serious? I gaped at the screen. I read the information again. "I'm supposed to go over six cycles without refueling?" I talked out loud. "And that's just in between the first and second refueling!" I whined to myself. "Well, it is what it is, Goldstreak." I muttered to myself once more, getting off the berth and walking towards the door. "Better get used to this." I took a screenshot of the schedule so I wouldn't forget the timetable.

I walked out of the quarters, making sure the door was fully closed. I needn't check my tank levels to know I was hungry. Prowl said the refueling area was down the hall, on the right… right?

Well, there was only one way of finding out.

While I was walking down the hallway, I heard someone walking behind me, but I paid them no mind.

"Hey." I heard somebody say as my helm turned towards them.

"Hi." I said, stopping in my tracks and turning towards the yellow mech. "What's your designation?"

"I'm Bumblebee." He said, taking a bow. "You?"

"Goldstreak." I said, bowing with my helm in return.

"You headed for the refueling room?" he lightly said, starting to walk towards it.

"Yes, actually." I said, walking side by side with him. I noticed that he had blue optics and black striping all over his frame. It suited him, but he was a little short for my liking. I was entering a completely unfamiliar area.

"I didn't know we had a femme here. You're new here, aren't you?" he asked me good naturedly, adding a smile.

I smiled in return. "Yes, I am."

"Wow, we actually have a femme here." He said in amazement, eyeing me from top to bottom. It felt a little weird. We finally entered the refueling room and I immediately spotted Silvershot at a table in the corner with two energon cubes in front of him. "Want a cube? I'm buying." He said.

I smiled at him, trying to decline his offer as polite as I could. I noticed that the bot had manners. "Thank you, but no thank you. My brother already got one for me." I said. I put my hand on his shoulder, seeing his optics dim just slightly with rejection. "You can sit with us, if you'd like." I offered. I hoped Silvershot didn't mind.

His optics immediately brightened to their normal level. "Sure, why not? Just let me get a cube and I'll be over there in an astrosecond."

I smiled as I turned on my heel and walked towards Silvershot, having to pass rows of tables. And with every table I passed, I felt the other mechs' gazes all over me.

I sat down beside Silvershot as he pushed the cube slowly towards me, with the back of his hand. "This one's for you." He said as he took a sip of his own cube.

"I met someone in the hallway, kliks ago." I said, sipping my cube slowly. "His name is Bumblebee and he'll sit with us."

He snorted. "You idiot."

My brow plates furrowed. "Why am I an idiot? You're the idiot." I retorted.

He put his cube down, if not a little too harshly. "Do you not see that I chose this corner on purpose? See how it's secluded from all other tables and how there are very few mechs on the tables surrounding ours? I thought you had more perceptive skills than that, Goldstreak." He lectured me again.

I rolled my eyes. "What's with you? All of a sudden you're all grim. Stop it. Be nice instead."

"Goldstreak, you fail to understand me."

"You're not giving me material to understand."

"Enough." He sternly said, giving me a glare. He wasn't a patent mech and testing his patience was not something I liked to do, knowing what would come after. "Your _friend_ is coming. I'll be…" he said, turning towards Bumblebee. He narrowed his eyes suddenly, scanning the whole room. Some mechs were still having their helms turned towards us. "I'll be here."

There was something off with him. I could feel it. I lowered my voice as Bumblebee approached us with his cube filled with the blue substance. "Silver…" I said softly, looking at him, trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

"I'm staying right here." He sternly said, crossing his arms. He looked at Bumblebee.

"Hi." He lightly said. "I'm Bumblebee." He slightly bowed his head towards Silvershot. Silvershot did the same, uttering his name as well.

"Silvershot." But I heard a change in his voice. It grew deeper. Aggressive.

What the frag was wrong with him?

"Bumblebee, sit down." I gestured with my hand towards the chair in front of me and Silver.

"Please, call me Bee." He politely said, taking a seat and drinking his energon. "So… What made you guys want to become Autobots?"

I shifted uncomfortably as I glanced at Silvershot. He was looking in the other direction, arms crossed, pretending to not hear our conversation. I was on my own. "It's not exactly one of the happiest stories." I said. I didn't know if he wanted me to tell what happened to us.

"It's okay if you don't want to say. I mean, we just met and all." he said, almost drinking his entire cube. I drank half of mine. "Where are your quarters? Mine are 4A." he said.

"A?" I asked. Where was A?

"It's just on the other side of the hall. You must be B then, right?"

"Yeah." I nodded, downing all of my energon. It was only logical. A on one side of the hallway and B on the other. "You're actually the first one we've met here."

He smiled, finishing his energon as well and leaving it on the table. "There are a lot of good mechs here. But seeing a femme…" he said, looking into my optics. "It's almost surreal. The boot camp has only had two femmes here, but that was a long time ago."

"Really?" I asked. "Who were they?"

"Elita One and Chromia."

"Aren't they part of the Cybertronian Elite Guard now?" I leaned forwards, resting my elbows on the table, truly intrigued.

"Yeah, they are. They're pretty close to the high commanders." He explained. I didn't know that. "But we learn about them during the strategy training sessions. It usually involves studying politics and biographies, too, not just logical thinking and logical conclusions, which is pretty boring."

I quickly checked my chronometer, seeing it was only 3 kliks until the beginning of the preliminary training session. "Bee, what's the preliminary training like?"

"Just some warming up, nothing to it. Hand to hand is tough, though." He noted.

"Let's go." Silvershot suddenly stood up, his silver and dark grey paint having a dull tone to it. "We don't want to get on the teacher's bad side in the morning." He said grimly, staring towards the door. What was happening to him? He's really worrying me with all of his 'untouchable and invincible' attitude all of a sudden.

"He's right, we better go." Bee said, getting up. I got up last, following Silvershot who was following Bee. Silvershot suddenly moved aside at a gap between the tables and I stopped walking. "You'll be in the middle." He simply stated, moving me in front of him so that he was the last one.

"Why this attitude all of a sudden, Shot? It's not like you to be this way."

"Maybe I've changed."

Worst excuse I've ever heard. "Like slag you have." A hit landed on the back of my head. I stopped in my tracks, pointing a finger at him. He has no right to hit me, even though I am his younger sibling. "I may be younger than you-"

"No swearing." He simply said, a glint of mischief in his optics since he managed to catch my attention.

"But you aren't going to embarrass me, Shot. Not now and not ever. Got it?" I tried playing tough, but I could see it in his optics that it wasn't working on him.

"Move it, Gold." He simply said, turning me around by putting his hands on my shoulders.

I hate him.

I followed Bee all the way outside, where the lights were on everywhere, lighting the entire planet, including our field on the boot camp.

One thing I immediately noticed is that there were all mechs lined up on the field. I was doing more than just standing out.

So I stood in line right in the middle of Bee and Silvershot. There was a superior officer in front of us, walking back and forth until the chronometer struck 6. Bots were casually talking to one another in the line, although I saw quite the number of looks headed towards me.

"This is our coach for the preliminary trainings. His name is Tradewind and he's really easy. Just do what he asks you to and you'll be good." Bee told me. "His trainings aren't hard and I honestly think he gives us less work out to do than he should." He said.

"Good to know." I replied, looking at my surroundings, taking in everything. The field was clear on this side, no obstructions, no machines. Just a clear patch of land.

Suddenly, a monotone sound erupted through the speakers of the camp, indicating training was about to start.

"And one more thing, be quiet. The teachers don't tolerate-"

"Attention!" Tradewind spoke up as I saw everybody straightening themselves up. I followed suit, but I had no idea what I was doing. I felt nervous, if anything. "Salute!" he formally said as I caught in the corner of my eye the bots bringing their hands to the top of their helms, arms bent at the forearm. I quickly did as well. "Turn to the right and march!" he said as I turned to the right and didn't know whether I should start with my left or right foot.

I felt a sudden tugging at my spark. I knew it was Silvershot trying to soothe me through the bond. _"Right foot, go."_

I followed suit as soon as he started walking, and I was following him. Even marching wasn't that easy as it sounded, because it had to be done in perfect synchronization. I had to try hard to not trip myself, not trip Silvershot and to look as normal as possible while doing it. "Distance yourself!" Tradewind ordered as I saw the line in front of me grow longer, the bots distancing themselves from one another. I did the same, marching at the same pace. "Start running!"

I didn't need to be told twice. We were following a circular pattern across the entire field of the camp, which took a while to run entirely. After the first round, I started to feel a little out of breath. And just as we passed Tradewind at the end of the first round, I heard him say we needed to repeat this two more times.

I was really out of breath when I was done jogging the three rounds. Really, I've never ran at such great distances and the field was anything but small. But as we finished the third round, the mechs started slowing down to a march once again. It had taken me a while to march in sync with the rest as at the first half of the fourth round, I felt my breathing even out. As we soon ended the fourth round, we stopped right in front of him, at his order.

"Hit the ground and give me twenty pushups!" he ordered.

This isn't good for me. I can barely do two and a half.

But I lowered myself to the ground and took a stance. "One!" he said as I lowered myself to the ground, feeling my chest plates touch it as I returned up, arms shaking. I wasn't built for this. "Two!" he said once more as I lowered myself. I pushed myself back up, already feeling void of energy. And this was just the preliminary training. I had a whole day to fulfill! "Three!" he said as I lowered myself once more, but could barely bring myself up. "Four!" I lowered my arms, but I could feel that my position hadn't been correct anymore. My bottom was sticking out amongst the others that were lowered. "Lower yourself!" I could see his black feet in front of me. He was talking to me. "Five!" he ordered once more.

I really didn't have the strength. I stood in my same position, not moving up, not moving down. I really couldn't do it. It was too much for me. I never did pushups in my entire life.

"If you can't do mech pushups, then do femme ones." He said, a mocking tone in his voice. I could hear the rest of the mechs chuckling at that, secretly glancing at me. Apparently he didn't notice that I was a built as a femme, perhaps his optics betraying him, hence the reason why he tried to degrade me.

"Serves me right for being a femme." I said, kneeling on the ground. This was much easier than the mech ones. Some of the mechs heard me, others would spread the rumors soon enough.

"Do not answer to me." he said in a deep voice.

I barely nodded as he continued to count all the way to twenty. I stalled my way to twenty. I don't think even one of the femmes pushups were done right. I stood up after he had counted out the number of pushups we had to do, trying to breathe. I could feel my spark beat erratically because of the training. "Twenty squats!" Tradewing ordered again.

I suppressed rolling my eyes, because I knew he was watching me intently. Instead I brought my hands in front of me and started doing crouches on his count.

"Nice work, cadets. You have a 5 minute break, then we repeat." He said, eyeing me carefully. I immediately knew I was peculiar amongst the mechs.

I saw that all the mechs sat on the ground, so I followed suit, sitting next to Silvershot. "I didn't realize you were so weak." He said.

"I'm not weak. Silver, I've never worked out in my entire life and you expect me to do all of this without catching my breath?"

"You need to toughen up. Do not embarrass me." his blue optics pierced through mine. Everything was just so strict here.

"You want to see embarrassment?" I mocked. If he wanted it, he should have just asked, even though I knew he didn't want me to embarrass him.

"Behave yourself." He scolded. I knew he had his moments when he wanted to show off by showing how superior to me he was, but it seemed to me like he had changed overnight.

"What's wrong with you, Silvershot?" I brought my knees to my chest. He looked to the side, pretending to not hear me. But I knew he heard me loud and clear. "Hey, I'm talking to you." I said, but he continued to ignore me.

I felt a touch on my back, somebody was gently poking me, asking me for my attention. I diverted my attention from Silvershot and turned around. It was Bee. "How'd you like it? I told you it was very easy."

I almost laughed. "Easy? I guess I need to toughen up more." I lightly said, Silvershot's words sinking into my processor.

"It won't be hard. After some time, you get used to it."

"Well how long have you been here?" I asked him. He was younger than me and still had more endurance than I did.

"Not long, only a quartex of a stellar cycle. But once you get the hang of it, it's really easy. Oh and more thing, there are also these extra trainings."

"Extra?" I asked. Who would want extra trainings after this?

"Yeah, there are pain toleration trainings and endurance training. They're uh… not so good."

"How many cadets go there?"

He thought about it for a moment. "I think about two? Maybe three."

"Among how many?"

"Well there are 18 of us here. But the number keeps shrinking."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "From what I've heard, a new era is coming and at the birth of every Cybertronian, they'll be permanently assigned to a certain function. No questions asked."

"Bots should have the right to choose." I said.

"I think the same way." He nodded. "But there are some who support this and others that are against this."

"I see." I said.

"Get up!" Tradewind suddenly yelled as everybody jumped to their feet. "You know the drill, run and workout! Go!" he said, putting his hands behind his back and monitoring us as we soon started running, skipping the marching process.

The second time we were running was somewhat easier than the first one, the pushups were harder than ever and the squats were a piece of energon cake. My knee joints would crack every once in a while, while I was doing squats. I had to lubricate them soon.

As we stood up in front of Tradewind, he ordered for us to salute him once more and then he dismissed us.

While I really needed to catch my breath I tried not to show it. Instead I walked side by side with Silvershot, all the way to our quarters. He opened the door as we both got in. The lights were 100% on as I left the door ajar.

"We have hand to hand combat training in two cycles. It would be best if you prepared yourself for it." He said, starting to stretch himself.

"Prepare? You know I don't have any combat skills on me."

"Which is why I will teach you something." He said, cracking the joints on his knuckles.

"When?"

"Now."

"Now?"

I gulped. He was going to break me in two.

**Some of you may wonder why Bee and Gold bowed to each other. I wanted that to be the universal greeting. Like humans shake hands, Cybertronians bow to each other in acquaintance. It's a sign of mutual respect. It's not a 90 degree bow, but anything that can remotely be considered a bow, then that's a Cybertronian greeting.**

**And if you're wondering what the new era is about, I suggest you do some research as I will be following the Transformers aligned timeline. Up to a point. If anything, you'll be learning an interesting part about Cybertronian history from the Golden Age. **

**As to why has Silvershot changed so suddenly in attitude, it's because he has taken the responsibility for both of them and needs to be there for both him and Goldstreak, all the time. It's not easy being the older sibling, so sometimes he can get away with lecturing and annoying his younger sister. It's what older siblings do, really. But Silvershot would never admit his problems.**

**Written:**

**22.04.2014.**


	3. Showoff

**I would like to say that this part of the story is revolving around before the war began. That means there are factions yet to be chosen. And nobody is on the good or bad side.**

**Astrosecond/nano-klik = 1 second**

**Klik = 1 minute**

**Cycle = 1 hour**

**Quartex = quarter of any time unit**

**Joor = 1 month**

**Stellar cycle = 1 year**

**Millenia - 1.000.000 years (or 1 year of Cybertronian age)**

**Chapter 3: Showoff**

"Ow, ow, let me go!" I yelped as his arms twisted around my neck, holding me in a chokehold. "Let me go, Silvershot, it hurts!"

"How will you defend yourself?" he asked.

"Let me go!" I yelped again. He was pushing my head down and my spine and neck hurt.

"Listen. You take this finger." He said, seizing the pressure on my head and showing me what to do. He motioned with his other hand towards the finger on his hand that held me in the chokehold. "You grab it and start to pull it."

"In what direction?" I said, grabbing the finger with my left hand.

"Towards the enemy's forearm."

I did as told and an astrosecond later, I was free, as if I was never in his hold. "Whoa."

Silvershot smiled for the first time that day. "You did good." He said. "Again." He suddenly grabbed me behind my back and put me in a chokehold. "Act faster!"

I instantly reached for his thumb and twisted it, getting out of his hold as fast as I had gotten in it.

"Good." He said, adding a smile. "Now, how do you block a punch?"

"Evade it?"

"I said block, not evade." He cleared his throat. "You must learn to counterattack immediately."

"Uh…" I still had no idea what I was supposed to do.

"Punch me." he said, standing normally in front of me.

"What?"

"Punch me." he calmly said.

"I'm not gonna punch you." I said.

"Do it." He said sternly. I knew I had to do it.

So I formed my servo into a fist and swung my arm at him. He caught my fist in his hand. I saw a sudden glint in his eyes. I was screwed. He twisted my arm behind me, holding it on my back as he pushed me forwards.

I somehow caught my balance as I looked up at him. "That was fun." I said sarcastically. "Not."

"Try again." He said. Okay, prepare for the same reaction. I swung my arm him once more as he grabbed my forearm and twisted it behind my back immediately. "Too slow. Too predictable." He pushed me back.

"I didn't go on self defense trainings!" I defended myself.

"You're going now." he said. "I'll leave you be for now, perhaps you've learned a thing or two." He said, sliding the door open as he got out. "I'll be in the cleaning area."

I stared at the door after he had left, trying to rub my arm. It wasn't particularly comfortable, this self defense.

I heard a knock on the door as I looked at it once more, and a mech was standing behind the door. "Yes?" I asked, coming to the doorway, leaning on the doorsill. "You are?"

The blue mech grinned at me. He was a little shorter than me and resembled Bumblebee by frame. "Hi, I'm Bluestreak. I don't know if you've heard of me, but I'm here now. Anyways, who are you? I heard there was a new recruit here and that it was a femme, so I had to check it out. Actually, two new recruits. Are you here to stay? It would be so cool to have a femme here! You know, I don't think I've ever seen a femme here…"

He continued talking and talking, and after the femme part, I completely lost track of what he was talking about. "I'm sorry, what did you say your designation was?"

"Bluestreak." He shortly said, giving me a grin. "You?"

"I'm Goldstreak." I said, bowing. He returned the gesture.

"Oh, you and I almost have the same name! I'm Blue and you're Gold! Mind if I call you Gold? It's a nice nickname, sounds regal, almost royal. You know, we have a royal in here, too! But he's such a snob and such a bummer to hang out with. But he's okay, he's really good. Are you royal?" He said, without catching a breath. Did he have to talk so quickly?

I gave him a weird look, slightly tilting my helm. "No. No, I'm not royal." I said. I noticed that he was still in the hallway where other mechs passed and gave us dubious looks. I snatched the key immediately, closing the door behind me. "Is there more to this camp than just this first floor?"

He nodded. "There are three floors in total, but third floor is off limits. The second one-"

"Why is third floor off limits?" I quickly asked as we walked outside. Many mechs were out and talking, just walking around, some even practicing combat maneuvers.

"That's where the superiors are. We all get certain rules we have to go by once we get in this camp. You read the rules, right?" Well, only partially. "Anyway, I heard there's an awesome view once you manage to sneak through the hallway on the third floor. There's a terrace, but I only heard that. You should ask Fireblaster more about that. But I wouldn't go near him. He's trouble and smells like it a mile away."

"Who is Fireblaster?" Oddly I understood his words, but only if I focused enough on them.

"His quarters are on the beginning of the first floor. It's usually him who pranks everybody else. If things get too quiet, you know he's plotting something. One time he sneaked in a pack of robo-rats here. He caused chaos here on camp and got suspended for a quartex." Really, a quarter of a joor? "And he had to do cleaning duty for a joor." He added.

"So what does this Fireblaster look like?" I said while occasionally glancing towards other mechs that were walking in our direction. They seemed older than me and Bluestreak.

"He's one of the eldest cadets here, pretty soon he'll be finishing his last stellar cycle here."

"Well how long does this camp endure?"

"Two millenias."

Oh, so I guess I had a lot of training to do then. It's still better than being under the same roof with Railgun.

But I'm really worried about Vectra. I don't know what happened to her. I sighed, looking down on the ground while continuing to walk with Bluestreak.

"You alright?" he asked me, putting a servo on my shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay." I said, forcing a smile. I suddenly felt his shoulder off mine, but more like it slid off. I looked at him, his optics wide at the sight before him. I didn't know what he was looking at, but I turned my head to see. A tall mech with red optics stood in front of us, his armor in shades of dark grey and dark purple. Bluestreak and I stopped walking.

"What's a poor little femme doing out here with these lesser beings?" The figure spoke up, giving me a charming grin after visibly eyeing Blue with scrutiny. My sparkbeat increased as I had yet to figure out how to react. I glanced all over him, as quickly as I could, and I immediately knew that he was one of the older cadets on this camp. The mischievous glint in his red optics told me that now I've caught his optic and he simply wasn't letting me go.

"The lesser being you are implying on is my friend." I dared call Bluestreak a friend but I didn't mind that. Why would he degrade somebody who is only younger than him?

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that." he said with a tinge of mock in his voice. Two other mechs came from behind his back, most probably his friends. "What is your designation, femme? I'm Fireblaster, remember the designation." he said with a wink. Was he trying to flirt with me by degrading Bluestreak? How pathetic of him.

"The designation's Goldstreak." I said, straightening myself to show self confidence. He didn't bow in greet to me, so I wouldn't do it in return. "You're standing in my way, Fireblaster. Please move." I said, wanting to go around him. I still had a lot to learn from Bluestreak.

"Oh, but I don't think so, dear Goldstreak. You see, we haven't had a femme in here in so long and you've proven to be quite interesting." He said with a smug smile, his arm extending to glide across my shoulder plates.

Ugh, someone get him off my case.

"Goldstreak!" I heard a semi scolding voice call for me. I turned around, only to see my proud brother walking confidently towards us. He stopped when he came to my side, turning towards Fireblaster.

"Hey." I greeted Silvershot. At least somebody I trusted was here.

"We have training in 15 kliks." He casually said, although he tried to hide it, through the bond I could feel the pressure inside him.

"Yeah, we were going to go anyway, except these guys showed up and wouldn't let us pass." I sent a glare towards Fireblaster and his friends.

"On the contrary, you wouldn't let _us_ pass." He casually said.

What?

"That's not what happened." Bluestreak said with a tinge of anger in his voice. "You know you stood in our way and wouldn't let us pass!"

"What could we possibly want from you?" Fireblaster innocently asked.

Silvershot put his leg in front of me, standing up to Fireblaster. They were roughly the same age and height, perhaps Silver being a little taller. "There is no reason for her to want something from you. Move." He determinedly said, his voice low, ending in a growl.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Fireblaster crossed his arms, tilting his head upwards and looking at him from under.

Silvershot needn't say anything. It was clear he shouldn't mess with him. Silver glared at him until Fireblaster shifted uncomfortably and then he knew he wasn't winning this fight.

"Let's go guys." Fireblaster said back to his friends. "We got training to do." He sent me one last look, winking and semi grinning.

As they walked away, Silvershot turned towards me. "Why didn't you stand up for yourself? I had to go through the bond to realize what was wrong with you."

"I tried, but-"

"There is no _but_!"

"Will you let me explain?"

"Explain what? How you couldn't simply go around him or go back? You have to stand up for yourself, Goldstreak. If you don't, _nobody_ else will." He said, his blue optics digging into mine. "There aren't a lot of sane mechs here. All of them are lusting for a femme's touch. And I want you as far away from them as possible."

"I can take care of myself, Silvershot."

"You certainly showed it now." he sarcastically said. "Who's your little friend?" he asked, looking down on Bluestreak.

"I'm Bluestreak." He said with a smile.

Silvershot gave him a scrutinizing look, as if deeming him fit for hanging out with me."He's good. The older mechs here are not to be taken lightly." Silver told me seriously. "Now come, we have hand to hand combat soon." He said, taking me by the forearm.

"It was nice meeting you, Blue." I said as he dragged me away. Bluestreak replied with something I couldn't hear, because pretty soon we were out in the center of the field, ready for training. "Come on, let go of me. I'm not a toy."

He let go an astrosecond later. "I don't want those mechs standing in your way. If they refuse to move, don't hesitate to call me." he seriously, yet calmly said.

"Hey, if all goes well, I won't be needing anyone to cover my back. I'll be good on my own."

He didn't reply, instead I saw all, or most mechs on the camp, align in a straight line as the superior came. "Hey, good to see you!" a certain yellow and black striped mech lightly said with his door wings shooting up. I knew it was Bumblebee.

"Yeah, I had to come."

"Hand to hand is really awesome. You learn to dodge, kick, punch, block, flip, twist, everything!"

"Sounds fun." I said, but my voice held no excitement in it. I just hoped I wouldn't get punched in the face. "Who's the superior?"

"Well, he's always late and goes by the name of Enforcer. He will try to get on your nerves, so just watch out. But if he starts liking you, then you're good in his books."

Good to know.

A dozen kliks later, Enforcer showed up. A green and silver colored mech with a pretty defined frame. "Alright bots, start stretching." He shortly said, reading a data pad and completely ignoring us.

I was silent as I stretched my arms, legs, chest. Once we were done he told us to find partners for hand to hand combat. I looked towards Bee, Bluestreak and Silvershot. Silvershot was already teamed up with another mech, one of the older ones. Bee and Bluestreak were partners and I found myself standing alone.

Who was I going to partner with?

Luckily for me, I found a mech that seemed to be in the same year as I was on the camp. His red and orange colored frame stood out amongst the darker colored mechs. He seemed to spot me immediately, smiling as he walked towards me. Once he stood in front of me, he took a bow, presenting himself. "The designation's Hot Rod."

I bowed as well. "I'm Goldstreak."

"Do you have any battle knowledge?" he asked, his blue optics shining. I shook my head. "I'll teach you something easy." He said lightly, but I could already feel a cocky attitude coming from him. "It doesn't matter what we do, it's just that we keep doing it."

What?

"I'm sorry, what?"

"The hand to hand combat. Enforcer won't mind us, he just has to see us practicing when he looks at us, every once in a while." Oh, he meant that. I had to remember to slap myself later because of my perverted processor.

"Alright, so what do we do?"

"I'm gonna show you some basic punches." He said, taking a step away from me. I stood in my place. "Bend your knees, form your servos into fists and bend your back slightly towards me. Yeah, that's good." He said. "Now, this is called a direct hit." He swiftly punched the air in front of him as he stood next to me. "Because you're punching the enemy right in front of you. See, I mastered it." The cocky attitude started coming out. I just wanted to learn how to fight. "You try."

I did as told, but I didn't feel the energy surge through me like it did with Hot Rod.

He shook his head. "You have to move your hips with the move. Otherwise you're cutting the e-"

"You didn't tell me I had to move my hips." I said, standing straight. "Show me again."

Time after time, I slowly began to get the hang of things. I had eventually started to punch at his open palms. Sometimes he would move the palm so that I missed and surged right at him, falling into his arms, but it was all fun and games, as long as Enforcer didn't hear us laughing.

"Go back younglings, training's over." Enforcer dully said, returning to reading his data pad and getting into the camp building.

I felt my body heat rise as I my cooling fans kicked in. "You're doing pretty good." He said as I smiled. "For a newbie. And femme." My smile dropped immediately.

"Yeah, thanks." I said, no longer interested in talking to him. His cocky attitude is getting in the way of me talking to him like a normal bot.

"What, no 'thanks Hot Rod, you've been such a good teacher'?"

"Have you been a good teacher and not a cocky student, perhaps I'd tell you that." I teased him and he immediately fell into the trap.

"Yeah, well I'm still better than you."

"Whoever said you weren't?" I chuckled smugly at him. It was just so easy to manipulate him and his big ego. "Just let it go, Hot Rod. At least I learned something from you." I said with a smile.

He swung his arm over my shoulders. "Refueling is in about a cycle. Wanna grab some energon?" he said as we started to walk towards the entrance of the camp building.

"I'm not that hungry. Maybe sometime later?" I politely declined, grabbing his servo and gently swinging it over my helm, getting his arm off me.

"Sure, let's say in a cycle and an astrosecond?" he charmingly said, not letting go of my servo.

"You never give up, do you?"

"Not when I find something I like."

"Okay, Hot Rod, have it your way."

"So I'll meet you in a cycle in front of your quarters?" he said as I stopped in my tracks.

"How do you know where my quarters are?"

"It's a small camp, rumors spread quickly."

"Sure." I said, pulling my servo out of his grasp, not knowing what else to say. I took out the key from a compartment on my shoulder and slid it into its hold, unlocking the door.

I was really hungry, but I didn't want to throw myself to a pack of cyber-wolves just yet. I had to find someone for protection. God knows these mechs are thirsty, and not for energon.

**Written: **

**24.04.2014.**


	4. Hunter And Prey

**Thank you all for the wonderful and positive reviews! They did wonders to my artistic side and I've managed to write quite a lot of chapters, knowing that you liked this so far! I know this is nothing like you've ever read before, which was one of the things that encouraged me to write this in the first place. That, and my love for Sunstreaker. **

**Chapter 4: Hunter and Prey**

"Hey. Hey Silvershot." I called for him as he sat on his berth, not doing anything in particular. "Can you get me energon?"

"Why would I do that? Get your own." He said.

"Because once I go out of these quarters, a pack of cyber-wolves are waiting for me!"

"No, they're not. Go get your own energon and drink it in peace."

"…Want to go with me?" I timidly asked.

"You can't live in fear, Gold."

"I take it you're not going."

"Of course not. But you can get me mine." He said with a sly grin.

I wanted to curse at him, but knowing he'd beat the living slag out of me for doing that, I thought better. "Alright, I'll go alone. And I'm not getting you energon." I sent him a glare at which he shrugged as I left the key to him and slid the door close while exiting the quarters. It was exactly one cycle after the hand to hand combat was over and Hot Rod had been waiting for me, exactly in front of my quarters. "Hi."

"Let's go, my femme."

"I'm not your femme, Hot Rod." I rolled my optics.

"Not yet." He said with a grin. I couldn't help but notice he was a little taller than I was, muscles slightly outlining his frame and the bright paint job adorning it. But we were only teenagers, we were yet to develop our frames.

"Don't get too cocky, it's just energon." I reminded him with a bat of my finger at him.

"It starts with energon." He added, trying to flirt. We eventually came to the refueling room and stood in front of the dispenser. "I'll buy."

"No need, I got my own credits."

"You're a femme and I'm a mech." He stated the obvious. "That means I will buy you energon."

"Hot Rod, you really don't have to-"

"I want to."

There was just no way getting around him. I gave a him a smile as he put in two credits as two cubes fell to the bottom of the dispenser, slowly filling up to the top with blue, normal grade energon. "Thanks, Rod." I said, smiling.

"Not a problem. Come meet my friends, they're right over there." He motioned towards a table with a couple of mechs sitting by it. It seemed like the cool place to be for the newbies like us. And by newbies, I meant first year cadets on the camp.

I walked over to the mechs, slowing down to get some energon into my systems, for I had been so hungry I was afraid my tanks would start churning in front of the mechs. I didn't want to embarrass myself, that was the last thing I wanted to do. Eventually, we came up right in front of the table.

"Everyone, I want you to meet the one and only femme on camp." He said, making way for me and him as we sat by the table. "Goldstreak, I'd like you to meet Mirage, Cliffjumper and Springer." He introduced me to his friends. I bowed to them all, trying to figure out who was who. "Raj is our _noble_ one." He motioned to the victory red colored Transformer. "This is Cliff." He motioned towards the also red colored mech, but this one had a slightly darker hue of red on him, almost crimson. "And this is Springer." He pointed towards a green mech.

"I've heard we had a femme onboard, I thought they were only rumors." Cliffjumper said lightly, although his voice was quite deep for his height. Grotesque. "Nice to know you're real." He said, while I was a little confused with his statement.

"Thanks." I awkwardly said, taking a sip of my own energon.

"Be at ease with us, we're not into that ogling stuff." Cliff said, completely relaxed.

"Thank Primus someone isn't." All of my so called 'fears' vanished immediately. "Finally some mechs who actually want to be friends."

"Just watch out for the second year." Mirage said. "They're not to be messed with." I noticed he had a different kind of accent on him. It was Praxian, but not like mine. His was of the higher families', the wealthy ones. It wasn't snobbish, it was actually quite nice to hear, because it was so rare.

"Why?" I asked as we all drank our energon. "Are they dangerous or something?" It's not the first time I've heard today that those bad boys shouldn't be messed with.

"Yes, they are in fact." Springer said. "See this?" he brought his left arm towards me, pointing with his right hand on a scar on his left forearm. "That dude Fireblaster did this to me." he retracted his forearms, bending and resting them on the table.

"What for?"

"I was walking on the upper hallway, he thought I was going to steal something from him. He's such a two-bit."

"Why would you steal something?" I asked him. "I mean, you don't strike me as a thief."

"I wouldn't, but his bolts for brains processor figured I was the enemy of him, called his friends, things got messy and that's how the scar got onto my arm." He casually said. "But it's alright now, I'm preparing my revenge on him soon."

"Serves him right, if you ask me." I added, sipping my energon. "If you didn't endanger his life, he had no reason to endanger yours." I bluntly continued.

"Now that's a femme that knows what she's saying." Mirage said with a grin, pointing with his energon cube towards me. He gave me a look, eyeing me all over. "You're not one of those femmes who'd say slag about someone just to please them. You know what's right."

I nodded with a smile. "You got me all figured out, Mirage." I said good naturedly as he only winked friendly.

Springer spoke up. "Shame there aren't more femmes like you. I could use a femme friend sometimes."

"You got me now." I said with a laugh as the others began to chuckle. "Well, you all got me now." I smiled at them. Suddenly, I felt an arm around my shoulders.

"_Told_ you she was great." Hot Rod said, pressing me towards him, but it oddly felt comfortable.

"Guys, we don't have time, stealth training is in a breem." Cliffjumper said, leaving his cube on the table. Mine was already empty. Hot Rod removed his arm from my shoulders as we all stood up from the table.

"Stealth?" I looked up at Hot Rod to meet his blue optics, hoping for an explanation of the training.

"Basically hiding in plain sight."

"How does that work?"

"The superior gets us some obstacles that we can hide under. Involves _a lot_ of transforming."

"Your gears start to grind after some time." Mirage added. "You have to go repaint yourself after a couple of trainings. It's not so easy."

"That bad, huh?" I dully asked. "I needed a repaint anyway." I shrugged.

"There are a couple of paint shops around Praxus," Hot Rod caught my attention, twirling his hand in front of him, showing just how they were positioned 'around' Praxus, "but they sell only premium paint. I can get you a deal with the owner." he offered.

"That would be nice." I smiled. Premium paints were pit expensive, but they lasted long, were hard to chip and had a long shine on them. "Thank you."

"Hey, no problem." He waved his hands in front of me, dismissing the subject. I felt really good about myself with these guys. They were so easy to talk to and there was no pressure around them.

"Does everybody go on these trainings?" I asked Hot Rod as we were all getting into a straight line again on the field.

"Nah, some skip certain trainings. I don't know if anyone told you, but there are extra trainings you can go to."

Bumblebee mentioned them. "Yeah, I've heard of them." I replied. "Ever go on one of them?"

"Yeah, tried the pain tolerance thing. That slag hurts." He said with a hearty laugh. "But of course, I'm still going on them." He boasted. "Gotta keep these muscles in line." He said, bringing up the arm closest to me and flexing its bicep. The bicep was there, but it wasn't anything special.

"Uh huh." I said, glancing at him from the bicep to his optics. "Hope it works out for you."

"Besides, I hear a new era is coming." Hot Rod said, his voice dropping few octaves, suddenly changing the subject. "Nobody knows what will happen, so be prepared for anything." He said, turning serious suddenly.

"I'll keep that in mind…" I said absently, scanning the area for the next superior. "It's been two breems since the training started, where's the superior?" I looked at him.

"Guess he's not coming." Hot Rod shrugged, but stood in place.

"Are the superiors always this… unserious?"

He shrugged carelessly. "Some are. Prowl isn't."

I knew he was a superior, but I didn't know he was a teacher. "What training does Prowl give?"

"Strategy. Involves a lot of political knowledge, logical conclusions, biographies, tactics… Boring slag." He yawned.

"So what comes after this?" I asked him.

"Usually we have medical research after stealth training. Sometimes First Aid and Perceptor take the time to tell us something new, but usually it's just reading data pads all over again. Boring."

I chuckled. "Is everything so boring to you?"

He gave a hearty laugh, gently patting me on the back. "Only the nonphysical stuff are. I'm a bot of muscle!"

"Sure you are." I laughed at him.

But our laughter soon died out by a shadow coming over us. He and I stopped laughing as we looked at the towering figure above us. "Ah femme, you're still here? I thought you'd give up training by now." A mech I immediately recognized as Fireblaster mocked.

"You thought wrong." I retorted. "What do you want anyway? You've been chasing me around all day." I crossed my arms and took a stance.

He turned on his charming side, from time to time bobbing into my personal space to touch me, poke me, provoke me, to invoke some kind of reaction. But I wouldn't give him that privilege. I just thought of what Silvershot would do.

He would probably kill him.

I wouldn't do that.

"Well, I just think we could be friends. You know, hang out?" he said innocently, but my processor told me there was more to this guy than he led on. His optics... they were malevolent. You could just see that from the look on his face plates.

"Usually friends don't stalk friends." I told him the obvious. "Besides, you're not giving off a good first impression, bud."

"Ah, you're more mature then your fellow aged femme friends, aren't you?" he said with a charming grin, his frame towering over me. I didn't answer him. I suddenly felt myself become more stonehearted, as if I was trying to protect myself from him. Perhaps I should have, because I really didn't know what to expect from him. "How about you come over to our quarters tonight and we'll get to know each other, how does that sound?"

"_Our_ quarters?" I asked, my brow plates rising. I didn't know who he was sharing his quarters with. And the superior was nowhere to be seen. I took a small step back, one he probably didn't notice. I needed to create distance, I wasn't feeling comfortable around this guy.

"How terribly rude of me, Raidspark, Metalface!" he called for his buddies as they almost immediately came up to him. It was more than obvious that he was the leader of their group. They were the bad boys of the camp, all decorated with red optics, very contrasting towards the blue optics all the other bots here had. His buddies were also very darkly colored, but their color schemes were dull, only decorated with old, deep scars. "This is Raidspark." He motioned towards his black and olive colored friend and then towards his other friend, Metalface, his livery in colors of dark grey and silver. "And that's Metalface." He said with a charming smile. I had to resist that smile.

But neither of his friends took a bow to greet me. Rude. They just ogled me.

"So, I take it you want to come?"

I really didn't want to. I'd be entering foreign territory with bots I didn't even know. And they didn't give off a good radiation off them. I tried searching for an excuse, but none would come up.

Seeing as I didn't answer, he continued speaking. "Alright, tonight at 20 cycles, you come to-"

"Actually, she has something in plan." Hot Rod came to the rescue, swinging his arm across my shoulders. "_We_ have something in plan." He said, turning his head towards me. "So she's unavailable." He pulled me closer to him. I'd have to thank him later for the save.

"Oh, first day and already having lifelong friends, are we little Goldstreak?" Fireblaster ogled me once more. I felt so naked, so bare. I wanted to hide behind Hot Rod. And I didn't want to be called 'little Goldstreak'. What does he take me for, a sparkling? "Alright, we'll find another time and place." He said with a grin that I knew was malevolent in nature and I wanted to get away from him as soon as possible. "Let's head to quarters, I heard there's a party tonight inside of Praxus…" he called his friends as they soon went into the camp building, leaving without a trace.

I let out a gust of air from my mouth plates, finally letting out the frustration. "Thanks for the save, Rod. I owe you one. " I smiled as he pressed me closer to him.

He let out a good vibration when I was around him. "No prob, hey, do you want to spend some time with us in our quarters? I mean, we're watching some TV, nothing out of the ordinary, but maybe you'd like to come?"

"Who do you share your quarters with?" even though I met his gang, I didn't know if all of them were actually in the same quarters.

"Raj, Springer and Cliff. Come on, it'll be fun. We'll get the energon, you just… well, be there!" he excitedly said. "You can come at about nine or ten in the evening. Refueling is at nine, but we'll get the drinks. Want to?" he said with a smile.

Well, I did owe it to him. "Alright, I'll come." I said with a smile as he swooped me into a hug, twirling me around once. What's with this guy? We've only met each other today. "Hey, hold your techno-horses there. We've only just met." I said as he soon let me go. He cleared his throat, looking a little embarrassed.

"Sometimes I can't stop myself. I mean, _a femme_ is here." He said as if I was Primus himself that came down upon him.

"So?" I shook my head. "I'm a normal bot. Treat me like one."

He smiled at me. "As you say, princess."

I rolled my eyes. You just couldn't get enough of this guy.

"Goldstreak," I heard my brother call for me from a short distance. "Come." He calmly stated. I bade Hot Rod goodbye as I walked over to him.

"What's up?" I said as we started to walk towards our quarters.

"How are you holding up?"

"Considering we didn't have stealth training, I'm doing alright, I guess." I shrugged.

"I wanted to inform you of the pain tolerance and endurance trainings."

"What of them?"

"I've enrolled both of us into them."

"Without asking me first?" I deadpanned. "Are you insane? I don't want to _go_ on those trainings!"

"Keep your voice down." He scolded. "We're going and that's final."

"It's not-"

"Drop it." He said angrily and shot me a look that clearly told me that if I didn't drop the matter now, I'd be getting it.

I could pout all I wanted and still it wouldn't change his stubborn personality. It's a family trait, this stubbornness until the end.

**Perhaps some of you are wondering why is there a 'bully' (Fireblaster and his guys) in my story. Simply because I am referencing Fireblaster's character of a bully I know, it's a sort of a vent chapter as well. Not that it matters much, but know that he is here for a reason, just as all the characters in this story are. I hope you liked this, a new chapter will be up within a few days. Review!**

**Written:**

**25.04.2014.**


	5. The Hangout

**I understand the lot of you are asking 'Where is Sunny?'. Well, Sunny will be here soon, you will just have to wait until he shows up. Patience is key.**

**Chapter 5: The Hangout**

While we had a long break between the stealth and medical research sessions, most of the bots on camp would either be outside, walking with a friend, or inside, locked in their quarters. I didn't know what I would do in my quarters. I barely knew what to do with myself at this moment.

So I walked through the hallways of the camp building with my arms crossed across my chest, just taking in the scent of it. It smelled of rusted metal and forged Cybertronian steel, Cybertronium. It was an old building, probably around 20 millenias old.

"Hey Gold." I heard a voice. I turned my head towards it.

"Oh, hi Bee." I acknowledged him as I turned my frame fully towards him.

"I was thinking… maybe… you want to, um…" he started twirling his foot on the ground, clearly nervous about asking me something. He fiddled with the three fingers on each of his hands, not daring to look at me in the optics. "Uh… you know…"

I only kept looking at him. What did he want to say?

"Um, like uh… just… hang out? Maybe?" he weakly said, a tentative smile forming on his face plates.

Hanging out? Why not? He has been nothing but good to me all day and I had no reason to reject him.

"Sure, when?" I asked him, leaning on the wall behind me, still holding my arms crossed.

His optics brightened. "About eight, sound good?"

I already had something planned at eight. I had to hang out with Hot Rod and his gang.

"How about seven?" I asked him. He didn't need to know of my plans.

His smile slowly fell apart. "We have strategy training at seven. Um…" he started thinking. "Maybe nine?" he asked.

"Ten?" I said as a last offer. "I don't know if my brother will let me be out after eleven, but I reckon we'll be spending a cycle, right?" I asked with a smile.

"Yeah, just one cycle…" he said rather solemnly, as if he was wishing for more.

"Don't worry, Bee. I'm not going anywhere, I just got here." I said as I put my hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him.

"So, I'll see you around, right? Ten is the deal?" he asked one more time, just to make sure.

"Ten it is." I nodded. He smiled and went away, disappearing into his quarters.

As the cycles passed, we had endured the medical research session and the strategy training session. Medical research wasn't really exciting. Just constant reading of data pads, absorbing countless amounts of information about treating wounds on the battlefields. Pretty much only elementary knowledge, if even that. The strategy straining wasn't anything special either. Prowl would just be talking about attacks and counterattacks, testing our mental abilities and instincts and going over political strategies and countless historical events.

But the cycle was getting late and I was supposed to go to Hot Rod and his friends' quarters. They were on the very end of the hallway, furthest from mine and Silvershot's quarters. Not that it mattered, there wasn't a long distance to walk over there.

So as I was standing in front of their metal door, I knocked, the clinking sound of metal against metal reverberating quietly through the hallway. I stood for a couple of astroseconds before I heard the door make a beeping sound, that indicated it was being unlocked from the inside, and then the door opened, revealing a tall Mirage in front of me.

"Oh, it's you." He said good naturedly. "Come in, I can't listen to Hot Rod going on about you anymore." He groaned, bringing a hand to his face plates.

"It's that bad, huh?" I said with a smile, entering their quarters. They were twice the size of mine and Silvershot's and had more screens, and even a table and four chairs and a large couch. Silvershot and I didn't have any chairs nor tables. But then again, there were just the two of us in the quarters. "Hey." I announced myself as I saw the empty room, only Mirage in it. I thought Hot Rod was here as well. "Where's Springer, Hot Rod and Cliffjumper?" I turned to Mirage.

"Rod's in the cleaning area, that room there." He pointed with his hand. "He's been in there for half a cycle."

"What do you think he's doing in there for so long?"

"Beats me." he sighed and sat on the couch, turning on the TV. I sat beside him. "Nice that you could come. Cliff and Springer are off to get the energon." He said, swinging his arm over the backrest, right behind my back. He was changing the TV channels, completely bored out of his helm.

"So what are we watching?" I leaned back, crossing my legs.

He shrugged, completely uninterested. "I have no idea. Everything that's on is politics. There should be something normal on by now." He pressed the touch screen of the transparent pad, which was the remote.

I heard a doorknob turn and I turned my head towards the sound. Out of the cleaning area, a completely polished and cleaned Hot Rod came out. He checked his frame for any imperfections and then his optics landed on mine. His optics showed a flash of surprise, before settling into their normal blue shine as he cockily walked over to me and Mirage.

"Hey Goldstreak. Nice to know you came." He said as he took a seat at the end of the couch, leaving me in the middle of the two mechs. Hot Rod's arm immediately went over my shoulders as I let the action slide. A tingly feeling found its way into my abdomen.

"Yeah well, I couldn't possibly say no to you." I said with a tinge of sarcasm in my voice.

He chuckled, his deep voice pleasurably ringing in my audios. "Yes well, not a lot of bots can say no to me." he brought his lips close to my audios whispering.

As my abdomen felt like it weighed nothing, I heard Mirage groan. "I'm out of here. I can't stand to listen to Hot Rod trying to flirt with you." He said in his royal Praxian accent as he upped and got out of the room, the door sliding and clicking shut behind him.

"So…" he said as complete silence greeted us. The TV had been muted, for Mirage really couldn't stand to listen to the politicians. "While Cliff and Springer are getting the energon..." he trailed off, his arm lowering from my back to loop around my waist, his fingers gently prodding my armor, trying to get into the seams.

"Hey, back off." I told him gently, snatching the remote that Mirage left and putting on a politics channel. I distanced myself from him, scooting a little further from him. "I'm not to be toyed with, so I expect you to stop being so…" I couldn't quite find the word for him.

"Perfect?"

"No, I meant annoying. Please Hot Rod, we've only just met today and I barely know you." I glanced tentatively at him.

"Nah, you just think you don't know me." he casually said. That mech had no shame. He scooted closer to me.

"I didn't come here to be humped on."

He chuckled again. "I wasn't gonna hump you."

"Sure you weren't."

"Come on, Gold, I'm not a pervert."

I almost laughed. "You certainly didn't make a better impression than that."

"Okay, let's try this again?" he offered, but I laughed.

"How about no? Seriously, where's that energon?" I tried to bring up another subject to ditch this one.

"The guys should be here soon. I can com them."

"Com?"

"You know, as in comlink?" he said. I hadn't a clue to what he was saying. I shook my head. "It's a way of communication. We have these links which give access to other bots' communication devices."

"Ah, I see. So how do you get those?"

"Um, they're integrated into us?" he gave me an awkward look.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I grew up with one."

"You're telling me you haven't heard of comlinks." He gave me a blunt look.

"If I had heard of them, why would you be explaining them to me?"

"My Primus, you have never heard of comlinks?" he started to laugh. I felt embarrassed and no longer pleasant in these quarters. I didn't come here to be mocked.

"You gonna keep up with the words? Because I see a door right there that I'm not afraid of walking through." I told him seriously, trying to get him to stop laughing directly into my face. Primus, so what if I didn't know what comlinks were? We never had any of those at home.

"Okay, okay." He managed to calm himself, waving his arms in front of me. "Look, it's just that I've never met someone who…" he suddenly burst out laughing. "…hasn't heard of comlinks!"

That was it. I'm done here. I didn't come to be mocked and I didn't have to endure this.

I stood up, standing straight and marching towards the door. "Whoa, whoa, wait, wait, I was only kidding!"

"Tell that to the door." I said as I closed the door, a little roughly and walked out of his quarters through the hallway, feeling ashamed and irate. Why did I even go there in the first place? He hasn't done anything but try to flirt and I didn't want that. But then again he didn't ask me what I wanted. So much for Praxian hospitality.

Maybe he wasn't from Praxus? I did have the tendency to jump to conclusions too soon. Perhaps he was a mech from another city, simply training in Praxus? Who cared anyway.

I came to the beginning of my quarters and knocked. A couple of astroseconds later, a rather raspy voice greeted me. "It's me, open up." I said.

The door clicked and slid open. "Aren't you supposed to be at-"

"Change of plans." I said, walking past him towards my berth.

"And what about that youngling… Bumblebee?"

"I'll cancel." I shrugged, sitting on the berth. "I'm not in the mood for hanging out anymore."

I could hear the door sliding shut again as Silvershot's footsteps came closer to me. He sat on his berth which was placed conversely of mine. "What is the problem?"

"Nothing." I said, lying down. "I'm tired, Silver, just let me recharge."

He moved from his berth and sat on mine, near my legs. I turned to the other side. "Not until you tell me what's going on."

"Look Silvershot, I can take care of things myself."

"Then why aren't you taking care of them?" he said, trying to sound assuring. "Why are you lying here, trying to push me away when we both know I'm not going to go and simply doing nothing about it?"

"Because I don't _know_ what to do!" I said exasperatedly. "I just… I don't want this."

"Don't want what?" he said, placing his servo on my thigh.

"I want to go back. I want to be back with Vectra."

"There's no back we can go to. We have to stay here, work hard and hope for a better future."

I sighed. He was right. I have to work in the present to get to a better future. "I just hope you're right, Shot. Because with all these trainings…" I trialed off, hoping he'd catch on.

"About the trainings, tomorrow we have those two extra trainings."

I knew we would come to this eventually. I groaned. "When?"

"Endurance is right after hand to hand and pain toleration is after medical research."

"Ain't that nice."

"And we'll be attending them every day from tomorrow." He determinedly said.

"You want me to deactivate, don't you." I sleepily said. I was on the verge on falling into recharge. I just needed to shut my systems down.

"I want you to be able to sustain as much damage as possible before offlining."

"So you say I'll be able to take longer beatings."

"Something along the lines." I could almost hear him shrug. "Tomorrow, 5 in the morning. Be ready." He said, taking his servo off my thigh. An astrosecond later, I felt his fingers on the side of my jaw, caressing it. "Goodnight." He said, before taking his hand to himself and dimming the lights.

"'Night Shot." I yawned. I did like it when he showed his affectionate side, but such moments rarely ever happened. Shutting down my systems and hoping for a good night's sleep, I had my alarm set, all I had to do was live through tomorrow. Shouldn't be hard, right?

**Thank you for all the support! I'm really glad you guys like this story so much! It really keeps me going with writing this story.**

**Written: **

**02.05.2014.**


	6. To A Brighter Future

**Just something to say, some of you thought that I had written this story in February, while TWOF was still being written. Truth is, this was written in May, because in my country, we mark dates as DD. MM. YY. In America and English speaking countries, it's MM. DD. YY. **

**Chapter 6: To A Brighter Future**

The mega-cycle started uneventfully, with me and Silvershot waking up at 5 cycles. I felt tired, only getting a couple of cycles of recharge. The first thing that crossed my processor was the fact that I had stood up Bumblebee and Bluestreak. I was supposed to hang out with them after I've hung out with Hot Rod, but none of it happened. Hot Rod ruined my evening.

When I got out of my berth, Silvershot was already checking out the screen on the wall, reading the rules and the timetable once more. It would seem that he liked to analyze. Maybe some strategy trainings would be good for him. It would be no wonder that he nailed all the questions Prowl had asked him during the strategy training session yesterday. Silvershot's processor was stronger than mine. That, and he was older and more mature, which gave him a certain advantage. Not that I was bad, but I wasn't good either.

A mere rookie, as some would say.

Stretching myself, I groaned in satisfaction when I heard the cracking of my spine. The action resulted in better energon circulation, which reminded me that I had to refuel soon. "Morning." I said to Silvershot, walking over to stand beside him. He merely acknowledged my presence with a single silent nod. I watched the screen as I noticed that he wasn't reading the rules and timetable. Instead, there were grade reports. "What's this?" I asked him as I scanned all the information on the screen.

"Grade reports. We have to keep them up for the final test."

Final test? Grades? "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you read the rules yesterday?"

"No!"

He was irritated, you could clearly see it by the look on his face plates. But somehow, as he was struggling to either explain things to me with patience or beat the slag out of me, he chose the former and I was more than grateful for it. "There's a final test at the end of our training here. All of our skills will be tested, but in the final test, our grades are a large factor as well."

"Okay, I understand that, but why do we need the test anyway?"

"Because we need confirmation that we had attended this boot camp and that we are fit for protecting our planet as loyal Autobot soldiers."

"Protecting our planet from who?"

"From whoever wants to attack it."

Why would anybody want to attack our planet?

I crossed my arms across my chest. "I don't see it."

"Nobody asked you to understand. Things are the way they are and we must always be prepared." He determinedly said. "Let's go refuel."

"I also don't understand why you're so gruff and serious all of a sudden." I said as he locked the quarters and we slowly made our way to the refueling area.

"It's not yours to understand. Perhaps if you didn't bother with other bots' problems, you would be able to solve your own."

What problems? "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about," he stood in line and waited to buy me and him energon. I wondered how many credits we had until we ran out of them. "Focusing on building and perfecting your own skills instead of worrying about me. I can take care of myself, and now you have to the same for yourself."

I rolled my optics, exhaling through my nose, but said nothing. Crossing my arms, I waited for our turn on the dispenser. Silvershot bought us energon as we made our way towards the table we sat at yesterday. We claimed it ours, because of how it was secluded and in a dark corner, nobody would go near it. They had nothing to find there anyway.

I found myself downing my energon rather slowly. I glanced to Silvershot with the corner of my optic and observed. He was scanning the area, disdainfully looking everyone and everything. I mimicked his behavior, trying my best to build up some perceptive skills.

A couple of kliks later, I noticed that the trio of absolute trouble and terror were walking towards the dispensers. There were two dispensers in the refueling area. They shoved away some of the bots to get to the dispenser first. They put in credits and even though everyone complained, nobody dared do something about it. They were pushed around and, from what I observed, if anyone tried to stand up to them, they wouldn't be having a nice time.

I sure as pit wasn't going to do anything. Not now, at least. Silvershot didn't move either. "What they're doing isn't right." I quietly said.

"Somebody _should_ put a stop to it." Silvershot said. "But it's not going to be us."

"It's not right to just-"

"Let them leave. We're not here to pick fights with fried processors." He said, drinking his energon. "Besides, we got problems of our own. One of them is training."

"And the others?"

"More training, discipline, communication with other bots." I knew he was holding something out on me. There was more to our problems than he led on. "Let's go." He said, standing up as I followed suit. I walked right behind him as we went out into the field, waiting for the preliminary training to start.

**XxXxXxXxX**

I barely walked back to my quarters. It had been such an exhausting and painful day that I felt as if all the energy from my frame had been taken away from me. The trainings were horrible. Some were easier, but after hand to hand, even though I was partnered with Hot Rod, much to my dismay, the next training was endurance. I realized I had little to none of that and the training was awful, because I was completely tired from it.

But that wasn't it. Right after medical research, which was at 17 cycles, I had pain toleration training.

I was surprised they didn't dub it torture. Because that was what it really was. Not pain toleration, it was torture. They hooked up me and Silvershot on chains, locking them around our wrists. No other cadet was present for they all quit their training. After they hooked us up, they lifted us off the ground. My arms slightly hurt from being pulled as my feet dangled above the dark floor.

Out of nowhere, the superior first started poking and probing us, seeing as it was our first training, he went easy. As easy as pain can be. He continued poking and prodding us, shoving every once in a while. Seeing as we had passed that, thanks to Railgun's constant beatings, he went onto using blunt instruments to cause a sort of trauma. We ended up having dents in places we didn't know we had.

The training session felt like it endured for so many cycles, when in reality, it was only one cycle.

But that wasn't the end of it. Very quickly, he escalated to sharpened objects, whose blades scintillated in the light of the dimmed room. There was nobody to hear our cries of pain and we were told not to utter a single word. Frag what we were told, this was a torture chamber. I didn't want to endure this kind of pain, I just wanted it to go away and get out of there.

I did struggle to get out of the chains' hold, but there was nothing I could do. The superior wasn't the enemy and I was here on my own accord. I had to endure this. For a brighter future. We were even given advice on interrogation, while being interrogated. What questions to ask if we were the interrogator, and what to do if we were not.

But later that evening, as battered and beaten, Silvershot and I walked across the hallway of our floor, walking towards our quarters. I had seen Bee walking towards me, but he kept looking away from me. I had to apologize to him, but not at this time. I was hurting too badly to move a muscle.

Silvershot slid open the door, waiting for me to get in before closing them. I hastily walked over to my berth, crashing down on it with a loud noise. "I'm done." I croaked out, pulling my arms to rest my helm on them. "I quit."

"Tomorrow we continue." He said, his voice growing deeper.

"I'm not gonna do this anymore. Did you forget all of a sudden how much that slag hurt when he started jamming that knife into our thighs?!"

"I remember it just as clearly as you do. Which is why we need to heighten up our pain toleration so that such petite things won't hurt us in the future."

I sighed. "I'm sick of this, Silver."

"We have to do it. We have nowhere else to go."

He was right. He was almost always right.

With a deafening silence settling its way into our room, I tried to assess my wounds. I had an entry mark on my thigh of where the weapon had been placed. It cut through some of my wires, but it wasn't a deep wound. Perhaps because it was only our first training.

A sudden noise filled the room, breaking the silence. Silvershot and I looked at the screen which displayed a message.

'_After pain toleration training session, it would be wise if you came to my office. Prowl' _

I reread the message. Ever since he had helped us get into the camp, we never spoke another word with Prowl, except in strategy training, which was our next training and then we had refueling. After that, we had the night to ourselves.

"Should we go?" I turned my helm towards Silvershot, waiting for an answer.

"He asked for our presence." He said, nodding and getting up. His gears scratched painfully against the dents the superior had landed on him. I had the same feeling as I started to walk towards the door. Every time I walked, the gear on my hip would rotate and cause small sparks to erupt from it because it was pressed to my outer frame. It didn't hurt much, there was only a small amount of pain and a large amount of irritation.

I pressed the button on the side of the door as it slid open by my command. I could hear Silvershot snatching the key as we slowly made our way out.

As we were slowly but surely traveling towards Prowl's office, which was located on the second floor, a lot of mechs gave us strange looks. But then some gave us sympathetic ones, as well. Some knew what we were going through, that this was simply training and not street fighting, while others were ignorant beings, most likely setting their minds on not even escalating in the military ladder, yet they were only here to spread rumors and occasionally do something worthwhile.

It was sad that all of this could be read just from their facial expressions. I was not a genius, yet these things were obvious to me. The other bots were so oblivious of the world that was passing by them and only some had certain goals set to achieve. Ambition was not a strong trait amongst these troops.

As lost in thought as I was, I accidentally bumped into a mech, hissing when the rather large open wound on my forearm touched his frame. By his vivid and colorful paint, decorated by even flashier flames, I knew who exactly I had bumped into.

"Hey Gold-whoa." He stopped in his tracks, eyeing me with a curious optic. "What happened to you? You've got all these cuts and dents-"

"It's the training, Rod." I sighed out, turning over to look at my forearm. I shouldn't touch this wound. "I have to go." I gave him one last look in the optics, already seeing his worry, as small of an amount of worry that was in his optics, fade away and trade in with a smile.

"I still have to talk to you." He said, turning around and walking towards where he was headed in the first place.

"Come on, Goldstreak, I haven't got all mega-cycle and neither does Prowl." Silvershot called for me with a tinge of scold in his voice.

I turned around, continuing to walk behind my big brother, eyeing his dents that were placed all over his body. I looked no different from him. We had been bleeding some energon, but the dripping had stopped mere kliks ago.

As we walked up towards the second floor, we didn't know which office was Prowl's. So we started walking down the hallway, Silver looking at one side of the it and I looking at the other. After we had passed a couple of doors on both sides, I spotted Prowl's office on my side. "It's this one." I said, getting Silver's attention.

Silvershot knocked on the door as a couple of astroseconds later, it clicked open. We expected it to fully open, but it didn't. Instead, Silvershot, as he was standing in front of me, being the older one of us, slid open the door, entering his office.

"May we come in, sir?" he formally said. I knew I had to switch my processor to strictly formal talking, because Prowl appreciated maturity and understanding of logic and pragmatism.

"Yes, sit." He said from behind his desk. I took the opportunity to glance around his quarters as inconspicuously as I could.

The office walls were bare, void of any decoration, perhaps only decorated by the numerous screens that displayed so many information I couldn't even begin to read. The gray, monotone colors with black cracks gave away the building's age and only made the quarters looks far worse. But I couldn't disregard the fact that the office was absolutely pristine. Everything had its own order in here. The data pads were neatly stacked one on top of the other, different kinds of bolts had their own area in which they were being piled up, but Primus knew what were they for. Statistics, logistics, strategies, tactics and different kinds of figurines stood on a rounded table, next to an energon dispenser, much smaller than the ones in the refueling area.

I eventually took a seat in front of the desk as Prowl kept his attention on the computer in front of him. I didn't know what he was doing, but I didn't interrupt him. He would address us when he needed to or when he was finished with whatever he was doing.

Luckily, we needn't wait long, because only a klik after we sat down did Prowl turn off the screen, his black and white paint job came into view, for it was no longer scintillated by the screen's brightness. His blue optics looked from me to Silvershot. "Are you aware of why I summoned you?"

I didn't say anything, I let Silvershot do all the talking. "No, sir."

Prowl put his forearms on his desk, entwining his fingers and looking at us from behind his servos. "The reason why I asked for your presence is to discuss the extra trainings and some entirely different matters. The extra trainings are meant only for the most endurable and the most dedicated cadets. Not many bots can say they have finished either courses that you are taking now." he said, looking at me. "Now, this other matter than I must discuss. I have seen how you handle certain situations in strategy training sessions." He kept looking at me straight in the optics. I straightened my back. He was strictly addressing me now."Your way of thinking is completely different of the others'."

Was that supposed to be good or bad? "Is that good or bad, sir?"

He was silent for a moment. "That is debatable. Your ideas might be more efficient on the battlefield than the ones of your classmates, but with the appropriate approach and much more training, perhaps we will uncover a talent for a strategist. I suggest being careful around the other mechs while displaying your opinion. They do not take lightly to rookies. Now, I have seen certain potential in each of you." He said, looking at Silver this time. "I have decided, with the agreement of other superiors, that you are to be gathered in a specific group of bots that have potential the Autobot army will need."

Army? What would we be doing in an army? Why would we and our potential be needed in the army? I wasn't going to risk my life!

"Excuse the interruption, sir," Silvershot quickly said, leaning forwards. "What would we be doing in the army?"

My thoughts exactly.

"I suppose the announcement hasn't been posted yet." he said, his face oddly showing no grimace. "The new era has come and a war is coming with it."

I looked at him with my optics wide.

"A war, sir?"

"Yes. We have to increase the amount of trainings. Do not panic, no war is at hand yet. But as I said, we will be making a specific group of cadets which excel in certain areas and bring you all together so that you will learn from each other. You will get a different timetable with trainings of different difficulty."

"Sir," I said. "What about the war? Who are we fighting against?" The word slipped before I could stop it. Who the pit was 'we'? Apparently I had already called myself an Autobot soldier.

"All will be explained in the announcement." He said, getting up and walking towards one of the tables and grabbed a data pad. "I will send you to Perceptor. He needs to attend to your wounds." He certainly was perceptive.

"Thank you, sir." Silver and I said at the same time.

"Dismissed." He said as he sat back down on his seat behind the desk, turning on the screen to his computer. Silver and I obliged, getting out of the office.

We were walking in silence towards the medical quarters, each in their own thoughts.

I was still astonished when Prowl mentioned war. Who was fighting against who? And why? When? There were so many questions that arose. And what announcement was Prowl talking about? Why weren't we informed before? And what group was he talking about?

The questions attacked my processor, giving me an ache. I rubbed the forehead of my helm, trying to push it away. And what about that timetable he was talking about?

"It's useless to keep asking questions." Silvershot said from in front of me. He definitely sensed my worry and confusion through our sibling bond. "You won't be getting answers anytime soon."

Even though he was right, it didn't ease my situation the slightest. I sighed in return. Primus knew what was headed my way.

Eventually, we reached the doors of the medical quarters and before we could even knock on them, they slid open in front of us. It revealed a red and grey colored mech, also known as Perceptor. "I've been expecting you. Come, the sooner we finish this, the sooner I can get to other things." He welcomed us in, telling us on which berths to lay on. I laid still while he worked on Silvershot in silence. I could smell melted metal and I heard the various rotations of his tools' blades, knowing that he had been welding together metal sheets with Shot's frame, to cover the open wounds.

Perceptor was quick and efficient. Wordless at times, but proficient in his work. I could do nothing but wait as he finished working on Shot's frame. Shot didn't make as much as a sound as I knew that patching wasn't painless. Perhaps I should start learning from Silvershot. Primus knows he has something on his mind and knows something I don't.

Then Perceptor turned towards me, taking his tools and metal sheets with him, setting them near my hip. "I see you have a slightly deeper wound than your brother." He said as he moved the welder and turned it on. I could already feel the heat of it. Perhaps Perceptor and Shot did talk, but it was inaudible to me.

"How do you know we are siblings?" I asked him.

"I'm not blind, youngling. The indifference in your structure is one way to word it." He flatly said. "Hold still, this won't be comfortable." He said as he placed the metal sheet over my wound and started to bring the welder closer to the edges. "Turn off your pain receptors, it will make it easier." He said as Silvershot came to his side. Silvershot must have heard Perceptor talk about turning off pain receptors, because he grimaced.

Perceptor noted his presence from behind him, but how, I did not know.. "Mech, get back to the berth because you are still not fit for movement. Wait until the welds cool off otherwise the lacerations will be revealed. Then we have to smooth the patch out. I can't have you looking like beasts." He said as he ushered Silvershot down on his berth, bidding him a couple of more things that I could not hear.

As he came back to me, he continued where he left off, putting the sheet of metal over the wound on my thigh. But then, a sudden tugging at my spark told me that Silvershot was wanting my attention through our sibling bond. I was about to turn off my pain receptors before Perceptor started working on me, but I chose to do that after I've seen what Shot wanted.

"_Do not turn off your pain receptors."_

"_Why?"_

"_The more pain you tolerate, the stronger you are. You heard what Prowl said, we need to be strong for the war."_

As much as I wanted to turn off my pain receptors and wait for Perceptor to finish patching me, I listened to what Silvershot said. _"Alright."_ I simply said, closing my end of the bond.

Perceptor looked at me with his blue optics as I nodded in return. He was about to start the process of patching.

He pressed the metal against my frame and brought the welder to its end. It burned, to say the least, but it wasn't unbearable and I didn't flinch. It wasn't comfortable either, but I had to live through it.

Because at the end of the day, pain is temporary and pride is forever.

**Written:**

**04.05.2014. ( Remember - DD. MM. YY. - Fourth of May, 2014)**


	7. This Is Your Life

**Thank you all for the reviews, favorites and follows! **

**Chapter 7: This Is Your Life**

**Cybertronian to Earth time units:**

**Astrosecond = 1 second**

**Cycle = 1 hour**

**Mega-cycle = 1 day**

**Joor = 1 month**

_**Six joors later…**_

One thing that I've noticed during these six joors was _change_. Change in me, my brother, my friends. We had become stronger, faster and discovered our abilities and were always pushing ourselves to our limits. There was no stopping simply because we experienced pain. Pain was a reason to live for now, and I had grown almost invulnerable. It was not easy, not the least. Constant, everyday trainings full of being cut, stabbed, torn piece by piece, plate by plate, beaten half to deactivation and having to endure starvation was all part of the program. We were all to become Autobots in the end, but not all would become.

Over the past few joors, some cadets had come and gone, seeing as the training was anything but easy, they quit only a few mega-cycles after they've submitted their entries.

Although there was the announcement of a war and our trainings had enhanced in difficulty, no war was at hand. We were not getting any information other than that. We didn't know who we were fighting against, what we were fighting for, who we were training for, what our use would be and so on. We just knew that the war would come and when it did… well, we haven't got to that part yet.

The superiors made us do double the amount of training that our frames could handle. But I liked it. I liked being strong, fit, endurable, fast. It gave me a certain thrill about all of this. But I wouldn't call myself an adrenaline junkie, I simply liked the thrill of working out.

But I had gained many friends as well. I had gotten close to Bumblebee, after I had to apologize to him and go to two outings, which were fun I might add. Bluestreak and I would usually com each other all the time. Well, he would com me, I would reply whenever I could. Mirage and Springer were laid back and were great for just talking and hanging out. Mirage managed to slip contraband into the camp once, some medium-high grade energon, but we were only allowed to consume low grade energon. Medium was used when somebody needed to be reactivated and had to use the medium grade to jostle up their energon lines. Usually those reserves were located in Perceptor's and First Aid's medical office, but the doors were always locked, which meant he couldn't slip through.

I didn't know how Mirage had gotten the contraband, but we got away with drinking it. He hadn't smuggled in much, but it was enough for our little gang that consisted of him, me, Cliff, Springer and Hot Rod.

But Hot Rod was an entirely different topic. I was closest to him on base of all the mechs, excluding my brother. After I made him apologize to me, everything went smoothly and we sort of forgot the whole misunderstanding, granted that he wouldn't repeat that to anyone. I usually found myself with him in my free time.

Our relationship was rather peculiar. It was more than friendship, but we weren't mates. I didn't know how to quite place it, but perhaps flirtationship suited it best. To cadets that didn't know us, they would probably say we were mates, but our friends knew us better than that. They knew it was all fun and games, even though Hot Rod always loved to push the limit a little further.

Of course, my brother was against it, but as long as Hot Rod didn't pull any moves that Silvershot could remotely find as disturbing or aggressive, he was allowed to breathe. And so far, Hot Rod was breathing lively and freely.

Another day has come and gone for us, as we were all in the refueling area now. I had asked Silvershot, on multiple occasions, to come and join me and my gang while refueling, but he declined it each and every time and I deemed it unnecessary to ask again. He preferred being alone anyway. I just feared that he would become an introvert. But knowing Silvershot, such a thing would never happen.

He had even taken up a job. He was mostly doing monitor duty on camp, which got him a small amount of credits, but more than enough for the two of us to live off for many joors. Because we didn't have any large expenses, just energon and occasionally paint, and cheap paint at that. Wax was a privilege we did not have.

So I was at the table at the moment, in the refueling area, hanging out with my gang which I had grown close to. Hot Rod and I always sat side by side, just like we had since the first day. We laughed, we mocked, we gossiped. We did what everyone did. And sometimes, a little more than what everyone else did.

"Okay, so here's what went down." Cliff started telling us one of his infamous brave stories. I highly doubted any of them were true, but we heard him out anyway. "There I was, surrounded by the 2nd year cadets. There were three of them, all surrounding me." He made it overly dramatic. I decided to mock, of course.

"Primus, what did you do?" I said as the others began to chuckle loudly.

"One of them lunged at me. Of course, I dodged." He cockily said, flashing me a grin. "The other was just behind him, pouncing at me. But I got out of the way and before I knew it, the three of them were down."

"Three?" I asked him. "What did the third do?" Although I wasn't particularly interested, I let him tell his story.

"Apparently, he pounced at the same time as the second. And the third was nowhere to be seen. Then suddenly, pow!" he yelled, punching his fist into his palm. "He struck me in the jaw, almost knocking me out." He rubbed his jaw and only then did I see a large and deep indentation in his metal plates.

I stood up from my seat beside Hot Rod and walked over to him, sitting and squeezing my aft between him and Mirage. I took his jaw into my hands and looked over the dent, running my fingers over it. "When was this, Cliff?" I always thought his stories were only that, just stories. But this one seemed to have truth behind it. "Who did this to you?" I tilted his jaw from side to side, upwards and downwards.

"Hey, it's okay, Gold." He said, taking both of my wrists in his one hand and placing them on his lap. "It's all good." His deep voice said as his blue optics stared into mine.

"No, it's not okay, Cliff. I want to know who did this to you." So I can do the same things they did to Cliff, were the words that were left unsaid.

"What, so you can get your revenge? Please, this is-"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do." I determinedly said. He didn't continue what he was starting to speak. I got just a little closer to him, lowering my voice. "I don't want somebody hurting you, Cliff. Especially when we're supposed to be safe here."

I suddenly felt his finger tucked under my chin. "Nobody is hurting me, Gold. I barely felt a thing."

"That's not what it looks like. Let's go to Perceptor." I said, moving away from his touch and standing up. "Come."

"Seriously, it's nothing."

"Come on, let's go to Perceptor, he'll fix it in no time."

"No, really, I don't need any repairs."

Ah so the nice way won't work? Time to hit the ego. "Well, I think you look less mechly with that dent. It kinda shortens your jaw, makes you look stupid." I said, making sure I stared at his dent long enough so that he grew uncomfortable.

"Really?"

"When have I lied to you?" A lot of times, really.

"Ah, well… let's see what ol' P has to say about it." He said, getting up from his chair. I knew that would make him up and come with me. "We'll be back." He bade the group goodbye as we slowly got out of the refueling area and headed towards the medical office. "You sure I don't look mechly? Because then I really need to fix this."

"Let's see what Perceptor has to say about this." I softly said as we arrived in front of the door and knocked. It soon opened, but Perceptor wasn't the mech behind it, it was First Aid. "First Aid, hello." I said.

"Ah, Goldstreak, so nice to see you're here. Come for another lesson?" Every second mega-cycle, I would be coming to First Aid and Perceptor and they would be teaching me more medical knowledge than was necessary among the cadets. It was truly amazing how simply you could treat a wound in the battlefield and such things were only learned through personal experience. What would you do when you had no metal sheets and no welder, how would you treat the wound? Luckily, I knew the answer.

"Not this time, Aid." I said with a friendly smile. "Cliff's had some… esthetic trouble, so could you look at the dent and fix it, please?"

He gave me a kind smile. "When you put it so nicely, of course." He said, motioning Cliff to sit down on a berth. He looked over the dent, assessing it. "You don't have to stay." He said to me. "Unless you want to."

First Aid really was one of the nicest mechs on camp, superior to cadets or not, and it was simply amazing how he always attended to his patients with such care and gentility. But what was a little wondrous was the fact that even inanimate objects received the same amount of care as a fellow Autobot would. "Can I watch and learn?" I said as I had gotten side by side with him.

"Of course." He kindly said, grabbing a specified tool which took would take the plating out. "Do you want something for the pain, Cliffjumper? This will not be pleasant."

"Nah, give me all you got, Doc." He cockily said, putting his servos on the sides of the berth.

"Alright, your choice. Now watch Goldstreak, first you must see these bolts here. We do nothing by violence, so there is no reason to pull out the jaw plate. You must unscrew these plates to get to the inner frame."

"The protoform." I said.

"Yes, exactly." He said as he unscrewed the various screws placed on Cliff's jaw. We took the plate down, setting it in a clean metal box. "Now, it would seem that because of the force of the trauma, his protoform has been damaged."

"So what do we do?"

"We have to buff it out. See this tool?" He said, snatching a tool from his desk. "This will buff it from the inside out."

"How?"

"Watch and learn." He said as he put the device on Cliffjumper's jaw. It locked itself onto his jaw, sort of sticking to it as we slowly saw the dent disappearing, as if it was being sucked in by the tool.

"Fascinating." I said as he took the tool away. Cliff ran his fingers over his jaw.

"Feels pretty smooth to me. Didn't hurt at all, Doc." He said. "Now gimme my jaw plate back."

"Patience, young one." He calmly said, placing his jaw back and screwing it back together with a tool that ran on electricity. "There, all done."

"Thanks." Cliff said, standing up and walking towards the door.

"I'll see you in two mega-cycles, Goldstreak?" First Aid nicely said. I nodded with a smile and bade him goodbye, walking out of the medical office, side by side with Cliff.

"Does it look better now?" He said, running his fingers over the place where the dent used to be.

"It's perfect now." I said as we had gone back to the refueling area. It was less crowded now and I looked to where Silver's corner was. He was gone, meaning he had probably gone to our quarters.

Cliff seemed to be very pleased with my answer, swinging his arm around my waist. "Why thank you, I have always thought myself to be nothing shy of perfection."

I chuckled, putting my arm around his waist in a friendly matter. We walked over to our table, but Springer was gone. We sat down on our usual places, him next to Mirage and I next to Hot Rod. "Where'd Springer go?" I asked Mirage.

"He wasn't feeling well. Said he'd turn in early."

"That's an odd thing for him to say." I noted as I continued sipping my energon slowly, trying to savor the flavor.

"Meh, leave the mech alone. Maybe he needed the extra recharge. He did take on extra pushups today." Hot Rod said, casually swinging his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close, a habit he had taken joors ago.

It was only around 22 cycles now. "I'm gonna recharge, too." Mirage said, standing up. "See you guys."

After he had left, I noticed that not many mechs were in the refueling area. "So who do you think did that to Cliff?" I said absently, staring at the contents of my cube, my optics unfocused.

"Whoever did it, they'd better be ready. You know Cliff wouldn't let them get away with it."

"So you know who did it?"

"Not really, but I can only assume." He shrugged, downing all of his energon in one gulp.

"Who?"

"Could be Fireblaster and his gang of glitches."

"He did say there were three of them and that they were from the 2nd year." I nodded, taking the cube in my hand twirling it slightly. I drank it fully.

"Well, you know what Prowl says, don't jump to conclusions without reasonable facts. He's always right about that one."

"Yeah, here sure is." I said, yawning mid sentence as the cycle had started to become late.

Hot Rod made a cooing sound, indicating a mock was headed my way. "Oh, is our famous femme warrior tired?"

"Tired of you perhaps." I absently said, my optics starting to shut on their own. "I should go, Rod."

"You can stay in our quarters. I mean, tomorrow's the day off training anyway."

I didn't hear anything about that. "Why would tomorrow be a day off?"

"'Cuz Prowl's away with some superiors."

"And why wasn't I informed of this?"

"Maybe because you didn't get to your quarters to read the notification? We all got it on the screens." He simply shrugged. "Come, I'll take you to our berth."

I shook my head, drinking all of my remaining energon droplets in the cube and stood up. "No need, I'll go to my quarters."

As we walked slowly towards my quarters, I figured Hot Rod was going to walk with me all the way to the door. As we came to it, I knocked, waiting for Silvershot to open it.

Seeing as he had already been in deep recharge, he left the door slightly ajar, which meant I had access to it without having to knock constantly. "I'll see you tomorrow." I said with a smile. A smile formed on his face plates as well.

"Sure thing, sweetspark."

I let the comment slide this time, because I was very tired and my optics started to sting, otherwise I would have gave him a lesson on how I didn't want to be called such names, or nicknames. He came close to me, giving me a peck on the cheek, our usual goodbye. Sometimes, my abdomen would feel odd because of the pleasant action, but the feeling would pass quickly.

I closed the door behind him as I walked towards the screen, dimming it so I could read the notification that was obviously sent to all quarters.

As I kept on reading, I gathered the most important information. Prowl was sent on a mission, along with most of our superiors. Apparently, there had been negotiations about the war and the superiors had to go. We really wouldn't be having training, just as Hot Rod said we wouldn't. Primus knows, you can never know when you should believe that mech or not.

So I turned off the screen and walked to my own berth. I laid on it and then heard a raspy voice call for me.

"You didn't become his mate, did you?" Silvershot asked.

I almost laughed. "You scared I'd do it?"

"I could care less. I just don't want you hurt." I could almost hear him shrugging. "Anyway, goodnight."

He did loosen up, but just a little, over these past six joors. He was easier to talk to, but not by much. Other than that, I found myself become more mature in body and in mind.

"'Night, Shot. Sweet dreams."

He snorted.

**That would mark the end of this chapter. One thing that I must say here is that in my story, there is a big difference between 'mate' and 'sparkmate'. A mate is a boyfriend/girlfriend in Earth terms and a sparkmate would be wife/husband. **

**Mate = boyfriend/girlfriend**

**Sparkmate = husband/wife**

**I needed to clear that up for you guys. I hope you liked this!**

**Written: **

**06.05.2014. (6th of May, 2014)**


	8. Lesson For Life

**I will be changing the filter from T to M, because this story will have to be M-rated, because of what I am about to write. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Warning ahead.**

**Chapter 8: Lesson For Life**

Every day, more and more rumors about the war came up and more bots were afraid. All we had known was that there was going to be a huge outburst, a war, for control over Cybertron. Autobots tried, through council and numerous laws, to weaken the Decepticons which wanted the whole of Cybertron to themselves.

It would have all been alright, but they wanted to extinguish the Autobots while fighting for Cybertron. It would have also been fine with me, frag, I don't even care who rules Cybertron, although it was not meant to be ruled, as long as I can live in peace.

But now, as I am slowly becoming an Autobot soldier, just like many of my friends, and I have to risk my life as a frontliner, but what for? For Autobots to rule? Or for Autobots to free Cybertron from it ever being ruled?

Either way, it was my life on the line and I wasn't looking forward to hurting fellow Cybertronians, who are just like me, but only of a different faction. Was there truly not enough room for everyone to coexist?

But there were many conflicting facts, for one, the Decepticons obviously didn't want truce. It was all power through tyranny and no law or higher position in the government could put an end to them. Their numbers were increasing rapidly, from what I knew. And our numbers were slowly rising, but not fast enough, for we had been outnumbered before we even began with this mess.

It was dangerous to be outside, this time of night. But I had to clear my processor. I reported my absence to Prowl, for he seemed to be the highest ranked superior of them all, and he approved my request for going outside of camp, granted I would be back in one cycle. I had never had any issues with him and I knew he would let me go out. There was no reason for him not to let me.

I was walking on the well lit streets of my beautiful hometown, Praxus. The war had not reached this city yet and I deemed it safe to be walking alone. As I was walking, I took snapshots of its various locations that I used to love hanging around in, like the Helix Gardens. I had managed to get there quite quickly, the streets being desolate.

Although I did want to go in there and hear the resonating sounds of the blue crystals which were hung in methane, and have them invoke peace and tranquility through my frame, I knew I hadn't the time for it.

I took a snapshot of it and started my return back to camp. I had to get there in 30 kliks, otherwise Prowl would be asking questions.

I inhaled and exhaled the smell of purity of the Gardens, moving away from the entrance. It was absolutely empty and it would truly be a shame to not walk through them when nobody was in there. Such occasions were truly rare.

I decided to give it a try. I entered the Helix Gardens and walked, taking in the sounds, the smells, the view. A large room with a passage that went straight through it, on both sides of the passage, rails guarded the crystals, as some hung from the ceiling and some were in gray rocks. They were absolutely beautiful as all of them scintillated, thousands of them resonating beautifully and very quietly, calming all of my inner storms and confusions about the war. Ever since I was a sparkling, my creators would bring me here to enjoy the view.

As I walked on the paved road, I moved to the side and put my hands on the rail, leaning a little on it. The crystals were so beautiful to look at.

Instantly, thoughts of home entered my mind, my processor going over my past memories, holding onto them. But of course, all of the past is just that… the past. I could do nothing but waste my time reminiscing. They didn't come back to search for us. Silver and I were left alone to fend for ourselves, to become soldiers when a war was not even at hand.

I sighed once more, turning my helm towards the exit. As my optics gathered the information, my spark stopped in fear, as three extremely dark figures stood there.

Time to go to the other exit. I turned my helm towards the other exit, seeing as there was nobody there.

At this hour, I shouldn't be out. And dark figures could never mean something good.

I walked out quickly, heightening my sensors for touch, visual and audio. I had to get away from the shadows.

I knew I shouldn't have gone in. Perhaps I would have evaded the shadows.

Come on, Goldstreak, don't stop.

I quickly thought of the quickest ways to get back to camp. I had to run, whichever way I chose. But if I ran, that would alert the enemy and cause them to participate in a cyber-cat and cyber-mouse game. I couldn't afford to be hunted down, nor did I want to be the cyber-mouse.

I had 20 kliks left to get back to base, otherwise the questions would arise.

Nevermind, I had to keep walking at a quick pace. But obviously, the sounds of the shadows' footsteps could be heard too, the clinking of metal against metal indicating how far or how close they were to me. And they seemed to be getting closer.

But then their footsteps became extremely faster and louder.

Let the game begin.

I turned my helm once to see who had been the cyber-cat. Three pairs of red optics greeted me, along with tall, dark frames. They were right behind me, which meant I needed to up my game and be faster.

So I ran faster, up to the point where adrenaline had been pumping up through my veins, pushing me to go harder and faster.

Suddenly, the city lights went out. Complete darkness greeted me. I turned on nightvision and kept running, just barely evading a wall in front of me which would have knocked me out.

Run, don't stop.

I ran beside walls, jumped over trashcans and whatnots, just trying to run away from the red optics. But they were faster, like shadows, just creeping up to and behind me wherever I went. The attack was planned, it had to be, otherwise I would have lost them in these streets and alleys.

But the shadows knew the field. They knew where I could go. So they opened fire. I didn't expect them to, but they started shooting at me.

I didn't know how to evade bullets, so I transformed, speeding away from them. I couldn't panic, I had to remain stable and get to camp soon!

I heard the transformation sequences start behind me. I had to be faster than them!

I turned on my scanner for life signals and saw that only two signals were following me.

Where was the third?

And just as I was about to speed through an intersection, the third figure crashed into my side, knocking me out of my way as I tumbled sideways for a long time, finally landing on my roof.

I silently groaned in pain. My whole right side panels were dented and cracked.

I transformed, trying to prop myself up on my forearms.

But I wasn't fast enough and the two figures that were following me soon came to my side, their malevolent presence sending electric chills up my spine.

I have to get up. I can't subdue to their wishes.

"Little, little femme… Such a shame you're out here… so defenseless… so alone…" the tallest of them spoke evilly, almost slurring his words, so dripped in venom. But there was something about his voice that seemed odd. It was like I recognized the voice.

"Get away from me." I struggled against the hold the two of his accomplices were having on me. He only walked forwards and kept walking until we had gotten into a dark alley, not too far from my camp."Help!" I yelled from the top of my voice. "Help m-"

I didn't get to finish my cry for help and a swift strike to my vocalizer cut the air from travelling to my tanks, silencing me efficiently and making me weak by coughing. I couldn't breathe straight!

My sparkbeat sped up, beating erratically up to the point I thought I was going to fall into stasis. I can't fall into stasis now!

"_Goldstreak, the frag is going on?! You're 20 kliks late, Prowl's questioning me and-"_ Silvershot's voice rang through the comlink, but a hard punch to my audios, which hurt like pit, turned the comlink off. Everything in my helm buzzed and my audios malfunctioned for a moment.

"Ah little Goldstreak... thought we were going to give you the benefit of getting us caught?" the voice smugly laughed, fiendishly delighted. "How pathetic."

How did they know my name?

Holy frag… I knew that voice. I turned on my vocalizer, trying to croak at least a word out. "Fireblaster?"

"That's right, my dearie." he slurred as his fingers traced along my jaw. "So you did remember the designation."

"Get away, you perverted freak." I said, tilting my head up and abruptly spitting at him, my spit landing into his optic. He was still for a moment, that is until he figured out what had happened.

"Ugh, you disgust me." he said, rubbing his optic free of my spit. I spat once more. "Stop it!" he waved his arms in front of him.

"Or what?" I tempted, struggling against the enemy's hold. "Let me go, cretin!"

"Shut up, pretty face." The voice on my left indicated Metalface was here. If the two of them were here, then Raidspark was most definitely the third one.

"Let me go or-"

"Or what?" Raidspark said, confirming my suspicions. "You gonna call for help? Guess what, sweetspark, we cut off your comlink. Nobody can hear you now, so we're gonna have a little chat."

"Define chat." Metalface said as their faces slowly came into view. Their faceplates were filled with evil grins that were almost dripping with lust.

"Chat as in pushing our rods into her port."

My spark sank down to my stomach. Oh no. No, no, no.

"_Goldstreak, what is going on?!" _Silvershot yelled through the bond. _"What is happening? You aren't answering your comlink and-"_

"_Silver…" _I sent him my feelings of fear, despair and anguish. Through the bond, he could hear my whimpering voice. _"It's Fireblaster and his gang… They're going to kill me."_

"_Where are you?"_

"_I…"_ My processor stalled. I felt the disgusting touch of Fireblaster's hands all over my body, starting with my chest and breasts, down to the crevices on my sides and all the way down to my absolute private area where no mech should go without my permission.

"Open it." He ordered. I didn't do anything, I kept on struggling against their hold.

"_Goldstreak, where are you?"_

"I said open it!" he slap was brought down right on the side of my face.

At this moment, I realized that my legs were free. I brought them quickly to my chest and kicked powerfully at Fireblaster's chest, sending him spiraling back. I twisted my lower body to the side, hitting Raidspark across the face with my pedes and getting out of his hold quickly. My right arm was being held by Metalface, who seemed determined on keeping it that way.

Instead of punching him, I kicked him in the knee where he howled in pain and bent down. I used the same knee to bounce it off the ground and straight into his face plates as he collided with the ground easily.

I quickly managed to catch my breath and send my coordinates to Silvershot, praying to Primus that he could come in time to help me.

A sudden strong grip found its way around my neck. It was a chokehold, one that I had not seen. Raidspark quickly tightened his grip around my neck, cutting the air flow to my systems.

I immediately took his finger and twisted it wildly, hearing it crack. A sly grin forming on my face in satisfaction, I landed a kick down to his abdomen, where he fell on his back. I kicked him in the side multiple times, hearing his plates crack and dent, metal screeching painfully on the ground and the sound of him howling in pain.

But what I didn't see what Fireblaster's gun that was pointed straight at me from behind. I only felt the barrel of it pressed against the back of my helm and that made the energon in my lines freeze, me included. "That wasn't very nice."

I couldn't reply if I wanted to. I was so afraid.

"Now do I what I tell you if you want to live." He pressed it harder against my helm as I gulped, my mouth plates dry. My processor was entering a stage of 'fight or flight'. Perhaps I could do a counterattack maneuver and free his hold of the weapon.

But seeing as I didn't move so much an inch, I heard the safety turn off of the weapon. I managed to nod very slightly. "Good. Now down on your knees."

I weakly and slowly moved, lowering myself to the ground. I heard the painful groans of Raidspark and Metalface.

I was going to be…

I couldn't even finish the thought. It was revolting and I could do nothing about it, not if I wanted to live.

My knees solidly found themselves on the ground as I knew the three mechs were right behind me, but I couldn't know what they were doing. "Now turn around and sit." Fireblaster ordered again as I slowly obeyed. "Faster!" my servos trembled as I had to focus myself on staying on the ground. I couldn't go around them and I couldn't escape behind. I could try, but I would be greeted with a wall and a lot more trouble.

Primus, please don't…

Help me.

"_Gold, we're on our way, we'll be there in less than 15 kliks. Are the Decepticons attacking you?"_ Silvershot's words got lost in my helm and fearful optics as the 2nd year cadets approached me, their grins so fiendish it made me sick.

Perhaps if I hurled my tank contents they would be so disgusted of me, they'd actually go away?

No, they didn't care what I did. I knew this wasn't going to be good and it wasn't going to end well either.

"Now… spread those fine legs of yours." Fireblasters voice bade and I was afraid to do it. I was afraid of what would happen if I didn't do it.

You went on pain toleration trainings. Nothing will hurt.

As if.

"I said, spread." He said irritated, but took his time. He had the whole night to himself and his buddies and Silvershot wouldn't be here in more than 14 kliks.

I crawled backwards up until my back hit the wall. There was no going further.

My spark beat so badly, so fast I thought it would stop beating at all. My breathing was shallow and my processor couldn't process anything for the sake of it. It just created worst case scenarios, scenario by scenario until I really thought I was going to hurl.

A rough punch across my cheek brought me out of my daze, as I felt my lower mouth plate rupture from the hit. A sudden servo found its way around my throat, squeezing it. "When I tell you to do something, you do it, pleasure bot." Fireblaster got into my face, his red optics gazing deeply into my blue ones.

"Frag you." I spat into his mouth, which was open at the moment. He stumbled backwards, spitting on the ground, trying to get the energon-tasted spit out of his mouth. I could be disgusting, but I had to defend myself.

Okay, so plan B.

I don't have a plan B.

I'll go down fighting. Yeah, that sounded about right, if not ridiculously dangerous and frightening and painful.

As Raidspark came near me, trying to touch my breasts, I quickly punched him in the throat, cutting his air supply. Metalface lunged at me and managed to land right on me, his rod sticking out, ready to find a port to fill.

"Open the port!" he slyly said, targeting his entry.

Primus no.

I managed to get him off me as he landed right on Raidspark. I turned to run straight at Fireblaster, who had noticed the commotion, unfortunately, and brought his gun straight to my optics. "Last chance." He growled.

Well, it was now or never.

I pushed the gun away with my left arm, hitting him on the hip strut on the right side. He bent on the side at an awkward angle as his gun went off. It managed to hit Raidspark's pede, as I kicked him in the abdomen, right where his air tank would be.

Kicking the air from his tanks, I ran past him, the gunshots still resounding through the alley, hitting the metal walls.

I ran and ran, not daring to look back. I was mid-transformation when two sudden shots hit my left leg, making it inoperative almost immediately.

No! Frag, it hurts so much! My mind screamed as mu HUD showed various alerts and dangers, but none showed an escape route.

I tried crawling to a safe place, but couldn't fine one and I couldn't move if I wanted to. At first I thought my left leg was disabled, but then I realize that the shots went through it, and managed to hit my other leg as well, leaving me paraplegic.

I tried, I really did, to get away and I even called for help, but my cry fell on deaf audios. My arms were trembling, they were so weak. My body was failing me.

I couldn't get around the three mechs and I was all alone.

"That is _it!_" I heard Fireblaster's roar as he ran over to me and picked me up with rage, shoving me against a wall. Metalface and Raidspark were holding me down, each of them gluing their servos to my wrists and pedes, keeping me in place. Fireblaster's bulging rod came close to where my abdomen was, lightly trailing over my abdomen. I was so disgusted and so afraid.

He ducked down to where my abdomen ended and my legs began. His hands found their way to my crotch, we made me extremely uncomfortable as I tried to struggle, but without the use of my legs, my arms were too weak. I was overpowered by three lustful mechs and I was helpless. I felt so horrible.

Fireblaster positioned his rod onto my closed port. He was about to get in and I kept the port closed. No way in pit was I going to give in.

"Open it." He bade. I didn't give any sort of reaction. "Open it, now, I'm through with games!" he angrily said, his spit meeting my face from the sheer anger his voice held. Seeing as I wasn't going to oblige, he crouched and put his servo under my port. I couldn't get him to move his servo!

He fiddled around down there, and suddenly, as he found a screw and unscrewed it, expertly I might add, my port slid open.

Oh no, no, no, no.

I couldn't close it again!

A sly laughter erupted from his vocalizer as I got to see his rod one last time, in the dim light of the dark street, before it had penetrated its way through my narrow port, causing ungodly screams to leave my vocalizer as I felt energon tears slide down my face.

**I know I suck at writing action, but I'm really trying to improve. Any form of help is greatly appreciated and that includes reviews, alerts, follows, tips, everything! Thank you in advance!**

**Written:**

**07.05.2014.**


	9. Too Late

**Thank you so much for the feedback! It helped me lots!**

**Chapter 9: Too Late**

I had been exhausted. I was paraplegic. I wasn't myself.

Those were the three things I knew now and was absolutely sure of.

And there was one more thing.

I had been scarred. Horribly.

And I still could feel their penetrating through me and as the astroseconds passed, my processor and frame had grown numb. I was defenseless, weak and unprotected. I had failed myself into finding shelter and standing my ground.

There were also some other things I was slowly beginning to become sure of. My audios were muted, but not completely. I couldn't access my bond with Silvershot, although I was pretty sure he had the rough idea of what was happening to me.

But he couldn't come save me in time. It was too late.

Could I ever forgive him for not being there when I needed him most?

The three menaces were just keeping at it, pushing their rods to their largest extent, until the point I could no longer defend myself and I was spread open, lying on the ground with their fluids spilled all over me and my port bleeding from being outstretched far too soon, far too quickly.

But I couldn't feel the hurt, the pain. I couldn't feel it at all. It was like I had grown numb to it. Perhaps it was because of the training. Perhaps not.

But then something weird happened. I no longer felt my body being pushed forwards and back on the ground, with the help of one of the mech's hips pushing mine. Their presence was no longer there.

I had somehow managed to online my optics. I didn't even know I had them off. Although my vision was foggy and my frame was mutilated, I managed to prop myself up on my elbows rather slowly, careful not to look at my frame at all, as I looked where did the three pairs of red optics go.

But I was greeted with a scene like no other.

I could hear faint screams, my audios still muting almost all of the sound because they were inoperative, I could hear the thudding of heavy metal being dented, the cries of pain that erupted from my rapists' vocalizers.

Thankfully, my vision had started to clear up as I had seen the clear form of Silvershot decapitating Fireblaster with his hands, first grabbing his helm under his armpit and swiftly craning it with ferociousness and then he ripped the neck plates with bulging anger until he put his leg over his back and pushed strongly down, removing his head from his body.

My optics went wide as my tank churned. Energon splattered from his revealed neck straight onto Silvershot's front frame, the spinal cords and protoforms exposed, making me extremely sick at the sight of it.

Alongside him were my best friends, Hot Rod and Mirage. They were taking care of Metalface as I saw my superior there as well, Prowl. Why he had come, I couldn't bring myself to think at the moment, but there was a good reason, I was sure of it.

The battle cries had soon died out as I felt my arms give out as well, with the last of the punches effectively putting Metalface and Raidspark into stasis. I fell to the ground roughly, but without any pain.

I stared into the sky above me. It had never looked so dark and starless.

Astroseconds later, two frames crashed on either side of me. The silver frame held me up in his arms, cradling me to his chest. The red and orange colored frame took my servo and did something with it, but I couldn't know what. I had lost my sense of touch. But then I felt feelings of anger and rage seep through the bond, as I could access it again being in close proximity of Silvershot's spark, and the horrible feelings with added repulsiveness started to suffocate me from the inside, but even they had been diffused and were soon replaced by worry, a sparkmelting worry, which made the whole situation slightly easier to handle.

But I was greeted with another frame, a black and white one with a red Autobot insignia adoring his chest. He knelt beside the silver frame, taking me into his arms and standing up. I took a look at his optics. They shone blue, with perhaps a tinge of worry and nervousness behind them. He seemed to speak to someone, but I couldn't know who. I had been so beaten, torn and ragged that it would reason to assume I had lost all of my senses.

Then he started walking, rather carefully. Of course he had to walk carefully, he was carrying a helpless and defenseless femme in his arms.

I always thought of him to be emotionless, stoic and professional. But now, he was strong and in his arms, I felt protected and safe. And those really were the feelings that I wanted to have, because…

I didn't want to think about what had just happened. It was too soon and too painful.

Being in his large arms, I felt at ease. Well, as much ease as I possibly could be, but I had lost track of time. After what seemed mere kliks, but could have been cycles, we were entering an old building. What its function was, I couldn't comprehend, but I didn't argue. Wherever Prowl was taking me, he knew I would be safe. At least, I thought so and had enough trust in him to bring us to safety.

Suddenly, I was being placed on a berth of some sort, and it was extremely cold for my liking, that much I could feel. A bright light shone in front of my optics, making me squint and turn my helm away. I was so disoriented.

I felt a sharp pang of pain hit me as a needle went into my main energon line in my forearm. I looked at who was prodding me and I came to look at a yellow and green mech, adorned by blue optics and a mid aged face, who I had never before seen.

Then, all of my vision started to dim, to the point where I could no longer see and then I knew that I had entered stasis mode.

**XxXxXxXxX**

"Ugh…" I groaned as I tried to figure out where I was. My helm was killing me from pain, not to mention my legs.

I tried swinging my legs over the berth I was laying on, but I found them to be in slings, softly tucked in a large amount of gauze and plaster. I tried to make sense of it all, but my memory files would not open. I rubbed my fingers against my head as I groaned once more, trying to rub away the pain that was tempting to break out through my head.

"Hey, you're awake." I heard a mechly voice to my right. I turned my head towards it.

"W-what…" I found myself say, my voice rather raspy and bellowing. "I mean, you're here? Why... Why am _I_ here? And-"

"Shh, hold up." he said, waving his arms in front of me, gently. "Are you alright?"

Not the slightest. I tried saying that I was alright, but I took a good look at my surroundings. White and grayish walls with black cracks and I could surely say that this was a hospital of some sort. I was in a… hospital?

"I'm…" I sighed. I couldn't lie. "Everything hurts." Especially my pelvis.

"It's alright, you're safe now." he said, taking my right hand into his as I slowly looked down onto my hand. Plates were missing from it, it was burnt and bruised, also dented, but looked clean.

"Rod, what… what happened to me?" I asked him, looking into his optics, as if I would find the answers within them.

"You don't remember?" he asked, confusion clear on his face plates. We were in some sort of quarters, separated from others. Nobody could hear in on our conversation. I shook my head now, but stopped doing that since my neck cords strained and cracked, resulting in pain surging through my whole body. I hissed, feeling the pain spread through my whole torso. "Hey, take it easy. You are only just patched up, you'll be fine."

"What happened to me?" I asked him once more as he looked down onto my hand, gently rubbing the remaining plates on it, evading the burnt spots.

"Fireblaster and his gang, in the middle of the night… ring a bell?" he started, but was hesitant to continue. I just looked into his optics deeper, not daring to shake my head. He sighed and took my hand wholly into his. "You were _raped_ last night, Goldstreak. By the three of them." His brow plates furrowed in worry as his deep gaze bore into my optics.

My processor stalled immediately. "No, I couldn't be." I told him, my brow plates furrowing. "I-I was in Helix Gardens…"

"I don't know the whole story, but by what Ratchet's told me, you were… raped and shot at, not to mention horribly bruised and…" he sighed, but then angered. "Why didn't you ask me to come with you? I could have protected you!" he yelled.

I grimaced. "Don't you get snippy with me!" I yelled back, my vocalizer straining as my back and neck started to hurt. Then it all hit me, all the memories. The memory of me being in Helix Gardens, the three shadowy figures, the three pairs of red optics, the malicious grins, their lustful and malevolent natures, the pain, the shoving, the gunfire, numbness, penetration… it all attacked me, all at once.

I must have zoned out for quite some time, because Hot Rod's yelling had stopped. I stared at nothingness in front of me, trying so hard to comprehend. Was it all my fault? Should I have brought someone with me? Did they really do all of this to me? Before any of my questions could be answered, I felt energon tears water my optics.

I couldn't bear to look at Hot Rod again. I turned my helm to the opposite side of him as an energon tear slid free from my optic, trailing all the way down and landing on my chest. How could I have been so stupid? So careless? How could I let this happen to me?

I heard Hot Rod standing up from his sitting position as his large black servo slowly and gently found its way on my jaw, turning my helm towards him. I evaded looking at him.

"Spark, you know it's going to be alright." He said in a voice I had never heard him say before. It was so soft, filled with worry and care.

I always thought that Hot Rod and I had been hanging around just for the fun of it, flirting with each other because it would take all the seriousness and stress away from camp life, but now that I heard this voice… I knew he really started to _care_ for me.

"Look at me, spark." He said, putting his finger under my chin and gently caressing it. "I'm here. Nobody will hurt you." His same servo found its way on my cheek, where his thumb wiped away the oncoming tears. I couldn't believe I failed myself. I couldn't protect myself and up until that moment, I had thought I was invincible and rid of pain. How wrong I was…

"Rod…" I managed to whisper out as he came closer.

"Whatever's on your mind, Gold, just tell me. I'm not going anywhere." He gently shook his head, looking into my optics.

"They… Fireblaster and… and Metalface… Raidspark… they, they…" I couldn't form real sentences. I was shocked and afraid. How could I let myself stoop so low into thinking I had actually learned something and on my unexpected test, I failed to protect myself? This ought to get me bonus points on the final exam. And how do I explain to Prowl what happened? How do I explain to everyone my absence?

How do I explain to myself what it's like to be a failure, to fail _yourself_?

"They're taken care of. Silvershot and I took care of them." He said, his voice falling a few octaves at the last sentence.

"What did you do?" I said between small chokes and sobs.

"They won't be hurting anybody anymore."

"And Springer's revenge?" I said.

Hot Rod smiled, coming down to press a kiss on my forehead. "I did it for him."

I gave him a sad smile in turn, looking at my servos and legs, noting how my right side panels were horribly dented, courtesy of a crash that sent me tumbling sideways last night. "They really beat the slag out of me, didn't they." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. I blinked as the last of the tears had fell and I managed to calm my inner storms, if not only slightly, and just enough to stop weeping.

"You put up a good fight." He said, brushing the tears away with an uncommon gentility.

I didn't put up a good fight. He was wrong, I couldn't. I was too weak and too fragile, nothing but a standard femme, so oblivious to the world around her.

I sighed, turning my helm away from him. I had been weak now, just for crying and doing that in front of Hot Rod, for that matter.

"I'll go get your brother, Mirage and Prowl in here. Oh, you should meet Ratchet as well. He made sure you didn't deactivate."

I nodded merely, still looking into nothingness. I tried wiping away the remainder my tears with my functional right servo, because the left one had no feeling in it. I guess nerves were damaged by those gunshots, although I didn't register any pain coming through it when the shot came. Perhaps Metalface had crushed my hand. I didn't look at it, afraid of seeing what had happened to it.

A few moments after Hot Rod had come out of the quarters, in came Prowl, Silvershot, Mirage and a bot which was a stranger to me. Hot Rod closed the door behind all of them, as the room seemed so much smaller now that 5 mechs were standing in front of me.

"You've got some friends right here, Goldstreak." The unfamiliar Autobot told me, walking towards me. "They've been here all night, monitoring your condition."

I looked towards all of them, wanting to say thank you, but Mirage beat me to it. "Are you alright now?" he said, walking to my side and taking my servo into his as I listened to his royal Praxian accent.

"Yeah…" I whispered. His hand trailed to my cheek, only caressing it slightly before he moved away, giving the unfamiliar medic space to work on my right side panels, to repair them or possibly replace them.

"What's her status, Ratchet?" Prowl said, not moving from his position.

"I'll skip the wound roster for her sake, but she is rapidly improving. I should have the minor wounds fixed today. Her legs will heal and be functional again in 2-3 mega-cycles. As for her mental state…" The medic trailed off.

"What of it?" Silvershot quickly asked.

"Usually femmes change when they come to contact with something like this."

"How do you mean 'change'?" There was confusion, frustration and anger in his voice, with a tinge of worry mixed in.

"They simply never behave like themselves again. There are many cases, but we can only see what will be of her in time."

"Sir…?" I asked, looking at the mysterious Autobot. "Are you Ratchet?" It would only be logical, Hot Rod did say a certain Ratchet would be coming here and he was the only one present that I wasn't acquainted with.

"Yes, I am. Pardon me for not introducing myself earlier. How are you feeling, Goldstreak?"

"Kinda hurting, right now." I confessed. My left thigh was burning from pain, but I didn't let it show and I let nobody else know.

"Fear not, I will have you on painkillers in no time. How is your helm? You have a nasty bruise here." He said, poking exactly at my bruise, which caused a lot of pain and I couldn't keep in my sudden yelp.

"Ow."

"Tender, still tender." He frowned. "With the medicine I am giving you, you should be fully fixed by the end of the quartex. I'll start working on your left servo now, it seems to me some nerves had been disconnected, but it's nothing major."

"Thank you, sir." I said, trying to lower my helm in respect before it started to hurt.

Although a small smile crept up on his face, he waved his hand in front of me. "Psh, _sir_, my aft. Call me Ratchet, I'm not _that_ old."

And that statement had made me smile and the others to snicker, because then I looked at Prowl, who demanded us to call him sir, and he seemed younger than Ratchet. "Thank you, _Ratchet_." He nodded as he went to my side, starting to work on the panels of my mutilated left servo.

"Now Goldstreak." Prowl said, coming up to me and sitting on the chair Hot Rod had been on, data pad in hand. "I need you to write a report about the events of last night." He said, handing me the data pad."We will need it for trial."

I gave him a look which clearly stated that I was in no condition to write, much less write reports.

"Right." He said, clearing his vocalizer, collecting himself and the data pad from my abdomen as he started typing down the information himself. He wasn't going to drop the case, and I wouldn't want him to do that either, but it was much easier if I retold the events. Perhaps it would have been best to do it in four optics only. "Begin."

**Written: **

**07.05.2014.**


	10. True Friends Are Discovered In Battle

**Long chapter ahead! I would think of this as a huge thank you to all of you readers! We are already at chapter 10 and have more than 85 reviews! **

**Chapter 10: True Friends Are Discovered In Battle**

_**Five mega-cycles later…**_

I felt reactivated, reborn, rejuvenated, whatever you wanted to call it. I felt a lot better than I have in a whole quartex, courtesy of Ratchet. He had been very nice to me, although he was never up for pointless chatter. He wasn't like First Aid, always helping with extreme delicacy and carefulness. Not that Ratchet wasn't gentle, he would always checking up on me, but I think he wouldn't have been attending to me with such care and delicacy unless Prowl had asked him to do so.

Ratchet really was a good medic, the best actually. He carried the title of Chief Medical Officer, or CMO for short, and he would check up on me every mega-cycle. Silvershot never left the quarters and for the first time since we had escaped from Railgun, he started making me laugh. Like, really laugh. And I was really grateful for it, because I haven't shared a laugh with him in a little over six joors.

Right now, I was able to move my legs, having them removed from the plaster and gauze and after having them fully repaired. Ratchet told me that both legs were dislocated at the hip, hence why I couldn't move them and there was very minor nerve damage in my frame, nothing he couldn't fix. So in less than a quartex, I was completely repaired and was about to be released.

"I finally get to go back to camp, don't I?" I talked to Silvershot. "It's been quite boring here." I complained from my berth.

"It's no different at the camp, trust me." he even started opening up to me. "Everyone is wondering what happened to you."

"They are? Who?" My brow plates furrowed as I was interested in names.

"Namely Bumblebee and Bluestreak. Cliffjumper was nervous all the time and Springer was no different. You even got some of the superiors' attention."

"I did?"

"Yes. Apparently, you are one of the best behaved cadets they have come across with and they carry a particular liking towards you."

Well, I did approach everyone with respect and politeness. "I think the same would go for you."

"Well… not really."

"Silver, what did you do?" We were brought up the same way and if I had gained a liking in within the superiors, then so would have Silvershot. Unless he had done something that would prove me otherwise.

"Nothing, but they take lightly to femmes, since you are factually the only one there. I presume they'll be nicer to you, once they hear what you've been through."

"No." I quickly cut him off, waving a servo in front of him. "They don't need to know. Nobody has to know."

"Of course they do, they thought you were offlined."

I was confused. "They did? Who told them so?"

"Nobody, it was a conclusion made too soon. And you are never going to offline, not on my watch." I did like it when his protective side kicked in, although it rarely ever did.

"But offlining other mechs for my sake, that's alright?" I gave him a dubious look.

"You know what they did to you." His voice dropped to an almost deadly tone. "You would have done no different if it was me in your place, wouldn't you?" he returned to look, staring deeply into my optics from the chair he was sitting on.

"I wouldn't let them lay a finger on you." I felt a surge of anger travel through my body.

"You see, the feeling is mutual. That is why I offlined them."

"But don't you feel… repentance? I mean, you took a life, Silvershot."

"For what? For hurting Decepticons?" He almost laughed, and I knew he was repressing a snort.

"They weren't Decepticons." I told him. They couldn't be. They were in the Autobot camp, unless they were infiltrators, which was in all likelihood a very large possibility.

"Perhaps yes, perhaps not. We wouldn't know, but they _were_ on the path of becoming ones. They were traitors, attacking their own faction."

"How would you know?" I crossed my arms from the berth I was lying on.

"For one, their behavior. Secondly, their optics. Thirdly, their constant need for harassment and aggression, their use of contraband, their sadistic ways of contact… there are too many things to count, Goldstreak. And then there's what they did to you." His voice turned angry once more. There was no doubt that some of that anger was directed to me, because I had failed to protect myself and have failed to show him that I was independent.

"So you are absolutely satisfied with the outcome." I questioned with a statement.

"More than pleased. Ask your buddy Hot Rod, he was no different. I swear, he really fought against Raidspark. Are you sure you aren't mated with him?"

"No, I'm not." I wondered why the sudden question. "It's just for fun."

"If it was just for fun, then why is his helm in his hands just outside these quarters? The mech couldn't recharge for a couple of mega-cycles." I knew he cared, he did display his emotions a couple of mega-cycles ago, but I didn't think it would go this far.

"You think there's more to it? I didn't really expect him to care in _that_ way..." I looked to my servos, fiddling with them. Was Hot Rod feeling something _more_?

"I'm saying you should figure it out."

"I'll go see what's with him." I said, slowly putting my legs on the end of my berth up until they slid down, dangling on the edge of the berth.

"I'll help you walk." He offered, getting up from his chair as it creaked.

"No need, I can do this on my own." I told him as I stood up, tentatively taking one step in front of the other. "It's been a while since I last walked."

"As you wish." He shrugged, opening the door and getting out, but leaving the door ajar for me to walk through. It wasn't that hard to walk, it just took some time to find balance, since I hadn't walked for five mega-cycles. I got out of the quarters and saw Hot Rod, sitting in the exact position Silvershot had described him to be in, bent back, head in his hands, alone in a row of seats that were pressed against the wall. But he looked tired. Perhaps he had fell into light recharge while waiting here.

I felt sorry for him. He shouldn't have been waiting for me, not this long.

Slowly walking up to him I saw his bent back rise and fall with each calm breath. I could see the change in his frame as well, now that I looked close. His frame had changed during these six joors. He had grown in height and his muscles were stronger and more accentuated on his frame now. His back was broader, all adorned with the lustrous red paint with an orange flame job.

I crouched quietly in front of him, putting my servo on his knee. He seemed to stir a little, but didn't awaken. I smiled at him and lightly shook his knee, using just enough of the slight amount of pressure and force to wake him up, but not alert him.

He groggily opened his optics as I he looked at me. I waited for his optics to adjust and sharpen and then realization sunk in. "Gold!" he grinned pulling me into a strong hug. "Thank Primus, you can walk!"

I hugged him back, kneeling in front of him on one knee. "Yeah, it feels good to walk again."

"Does anything hurt?" he asked, eyeing me visibly, as if scanning over my whole frame for something out of place.

"No, I'm really okay." I said with a smile. I rested my forearm on my knee while he played with my other servo. "Say, do they have any tactical board games here? I've grown bored just by lying around in that berth." I jabbed a finger in the direction of my quarters.

"You just figured out you could _walk _and you want to train your _processor_ with tactics?" he almost laughed. "Fine, I'll see what I can find. Maybe Prowl can help me out."

"I'll wait for you in the quarters." I said as he helped me get up on my feet from my kneeling position, my joints creaking from not being used for a certain amount of mega-cycles. "Oh, and could you find Ratchet?" I inquired.

"I knew something hurt and you didn't want to tell me." he gave me a look that held a little scrutiny in it.

"No, nothing hurts, I just need lubrication for my joints. They've grown stiff."

"I'll see what I can do." He said with a smile as I looked at him walking away. He had certainly had some upgrades during these 6 joors. A larger frame, better defined muscles, a stronger processor unit… not to mention the slight maturity.

I walked back to my quarters, only to find a cube of low grade energon waiting for me there. Someone must have left it there from the nurses.

I took it into my servos as I sat on my berth, putting my legs on the berth and crossing them. As I was drinking my energon, surrounded by thoughts that were attacking me from the day Fireblaster did his dishonorable act, I felt weak and angry at myself once more.

Kliks later, three mechs came into my quarters. Prowl, Hot Rod and Ratchet.

"What seems to be the issue here?" Ratchet said, coming over to me and checking over my vitals and healed and patched up wounds. "I heard Hot Rod said you needed some lubrication. I will get to it by the end of the cycle."

"Thank you." I said with a smile. "I know you must have a tight schedule and I'm sorry for taking so much of your time."

He snorted. "Taking time, my aft. Femme, you're being too nice. Which is one of the reasons why I'm still attending to your wounds. Just be good and I'll be back by the end of the cycle. No pain in your limbs, helm or abdomen?"

"Nothing." I smiled once more.

He merely nodded, walking out the quarters. I did want to ask him the other reasons why he was attending to me, of why I wasn't assigned with a normal medic when I had the best medic. I was almost certain Prowl pulled some strings for me. I know I was in pretty bad shape when they took me in.

Now, only Prowl, Hot Rod and I were in my quarters as Hot Rod sat on my berth, scooting closer to me, but leaving a gap between us nonetheless.

"I must confess, I was surprised when Hot Rod came to me asking to find a board game to enhance your strategic skills." Prowl said, pulling a data pad from his subspace. "I didn't know you liked playing these games."

"Sir, I was a little bored. Besides, I think I should use my time here to its fullest." I straightened my back as I spoke to him.

"Yes, it would stand to reason. Now, this is the only portable board game that I currently have, so make sure you don't obliterate it." He looked at Hot Rod sharply, who most presumably obliterated one in the past. "Return it to me when you are finished. May the best win."

I repressed saying 'goodbye', figuring that Prowl was not my friend, he was only my superior and a really good one at that. He left soon after he spoke, closing the door behind him. He was a busy mech and I would have to thank him for being here and supplying us with a board game. I couldn't say many superiors would take their time to make a wish of ours come true. Prowl was something else.

"Okay, let's start, shall we?" I said and grinned as I turned on the data pad and it emitted a holographic version of the game, one in which we would be placing our troops and soldiers, practicing our offense and defense across Cybertron. That's when Ratchet suddenly came in again and started working on my joints, doing this thing soundlessly.

**XxXxXxXxX**

After Ratchet had left, cycles must have passed, because Hot Rod and I were so into the game we never took our optics from it. I completely forgot to refuel and I was laughing the whole time with him. He was supposed to be on the Decepticons' side and I was on the Autobots' and we were conquering Cybertron.

"No way! How is that even possible?" he gaped, looking at my troops which currently held a siege on his city in the game. "I… How?!"

"It's called being smart and calculating your moves." I laughed.

"No, I know what this is. This is cheating! You can't move your troops from Iacon to Altihex in only an astrosecond! In real life, they would be taking at least a quartex!"

"That's because I didn't move them from Iacon to Altihex." I smiled fiendishly. "You see, Uraya is closer to Altihex. Which is why I moved my troops from Uraya to Altihex."

"Therefore effectively holding a siege on my city." He concluded, crossing his arms across his chest, one servo brought up to his chin as he looked over the data.

"I think I won fairly, haven't I?" I said, almost laughing at his face which was concentrated on finding a fault in my actions. He couldn't find any, because I didn't cheat at all.

"But I destroyed your capital city… Iacon should have held most of your troops." He looked to my destroyed city on the board game. "I mean, it was only logical…"

I chuckled. "That's because I didn't follow logic. Sure, it would be logical for my largest city, Iacon, to hold the largest amounts of troops, right? Well, I didn't do that, because I knew you would attack the capital, but you didn't conquer much there. Instead, I moved them to Altihex," I motioned with my finger to which city I had moved half of my troops. "because it borders with Kaon. And from this city, they had easy and quick access to other parts of my territory."

"That's pretty smart."

"I know."

"You're pretty. And smart." He said, looking into my optics.

"Don't flatter me, you know I won."

"Meh, not really." He grinned, getting off the berth and coming closer to me. "We'll see who's the winner…" he came closer to my face, pressing his lips onto my nasal ridge. A tingling sensation found its way into my abdomen as his kisses slowly lowered to the tip of my nose. Excitement surged through my frame and pushed its way up, effectively reaching my spark.

"Rod…" I found myself saying. I didn't know if I was ready to kiss with him or if I even _wanted_ to kiss with him. I thought it was all fun and games, but he always pushed his limits. He was so close now.

"Hm?" he stopped just short of touching my lips, his breath trickling hotly over my lips.

I opened my optics, not even knowing I held them closed.

The door suddenly opened as I saw Hot Rod roll his optics as he turned around, only to find a slightly shocked Prowl at the door, his right doorwing twitching slightly in shock.

"I... apologize for the interruption. Perhaps I should come at another time…" he said, shocked at the fact that he almost found us kissing on the medical berth.

"No, sir, excuse us." I said embarrassingly as Hot Rod moved out of the way and I sat up. "We finished with the game."

"And who was the victor?" he said calmly, walking over to collect his data pad.

"She was."

"I was." Hot Rod and I said in conjunction as I felt his servo on my shoulder.

"Congratulations. I will review your actions and come back at a more… appropriate time." He awkwardly said, trying to evade looking at us, leaving the room.

Astroseconds later, Hot Rod and I burst into a laughing fit. "Did you see the look on his face? Like 'oh I should come later'!" he heartily laughed.

"I know, right!" I laughed back, but what cut my laughter suddenly, was the sound of gunshots. But not gunshots like Fireblaster used to shoot me with. No, these were more like… cannon shots. "What _was_ that?" I warily asked, looking around me and turning serious very suddenly. The ground beneath us began to shake slightly as I quickly got up off the berth and stood on my own two feet. The small metal particles fell from the ceiling.

"I don't know." Hot Rod said, clutching my hand in his and taking me out of the quarters. "Find Silvershot and get out of here. The building's unstable, I'll go get Prowl." He ordered. But what about him?

"Hot Rod-"

"No time, just go!" he ran in the opposite direction, turning at one point as I completely lost sight of him.

"_Silvershot, where are you? I'm in front of my quarters, the building-"_

"_The building is under attack! Stay where you are, I'm coming!" _He yelled through the bond as frantic bots ran beside me, some wanted to run over me. Fear had filled the atmosphere as the screams fulfilled it, like it was a piece of a puzzle, perfectly fitting in the picture.

Suddenly, a huge cannon blast hit a bot, creating a hole through his sparkcase. I stared at it in disbelief, with my mouth open agape. As the offlined bot fell to the ground, its killer presented itself in a form of a black colored mech adorned with red optics and a sharp, purple insignia on his chest.

I immediately ran and ducked into my quarters for cover, speedily turning over the berth to its side, felling it as I took cover behind it, my spark beating thunderously as I leaned my back on the turned over berth. I prayed to Primus the Decepticon hadn't seen me and that he wouldn't come in here. I just knew he was a Decepticon.

The cannon booms never stopped and each of them echoed, vibrating through my frame. This fear was rivaled with the one I had a quartex ago. In both cases, I could have deactivated and in both cases, my life depended.

Roars of anger and anguish mixed, filling the hospital's hallways and quarters. An astrosecond later, Silvershot blasted through the door, ducking behind my berth. "Thank Primus you're alright." He said, optics and sensors alert as I realized he carried a weapon. His frame was covered in someone else's energon, dirtied with gunpowder, foreign metal parts and dust.

"Where'd you get the gun?"

"Prowl." He simply replied, looking over the berth, replenishing his ammunition. "We need to be quick. On my mark, we run. Stay on my aft and keep your helm down. We only got one shot." He cocked the gun.

"One shot's all we need." I replied as he looked over the berth as I readied myself to start running from our hiding place, straight into the heart of the battle.

"Run!" he roared, running through the door as I followed suit. Immediately we got caught up in the gunfight and I kept my helm low, running as fast as I could to stay right behind him.

As we were supposed to turn right and make a beeline for the exit, I slipped on a metal plate and fell on my right hip. I groaned in pain as a sudden Decepticon found his way in front of me. I stared at him from underneath him, fear running through my lines instead of energon.

But then he got tackled by a silver mech from behind him and they flew over my helm, the silver mech immediately getting the upper hand and landing a large amount of punches into the Decepticon's face, twisting it unnaturally. His face flattened to the ground as the 'Con no longer moved.

"Come on, get up!" The silver mech, who turned out to be Silvershot, stood up, grabbing my forearm and dragged me out of the indoor battle.

But outside, things weren't much different. Explosions and alarms penetrated my audios, but the visual picture of my beloved city of Praxus being destroyed, building by building, was spark tearing. I stared at it in disbelief, my mouth possibly hanging agape, as I couldn't embrace the concept of my hometown being obliterated.

A sudden tug on my forearm immediately snapped me out of my pensive gaze as Silvershot motioned for me to transform and follow him.

I did as told as we swiftly turned and swerved, did serpentines and various stunts to avoid the enemy's fire that was trying to hit us. It was only a few kliks later, when Silvershot and I hit a safe house and hid there. He transformed quickly, closing and locking the door behind us. What was odd was that we weren't alone in there. Many of my kind, the Autobots I mean, hid in here. I recognized Prowl, Ratchet and Hot Rod, but some more mechs were in here as well. I had to catch my breath first.

At the sight of me, Hot Rod jumped from his sitting position, taking me into his arms tightly. "You're online, thank the Maker." He dug his helm into the crook of my neck. "I thought they deactivated you."

"I'm not going down without a fight." I replied, hugging him back. Not this time.

He looked up, pressing his forehead against mine. "That's my femme."

"I'm not your femme." I said, moving my head away, but couldn't hold in the chuckle that wanted to get out of my voice, knowing things stood the same between us. He lowered me down to the ground, heartily chuckling himself, as he walked with me towards Prowl. "Sir, how long are we going to be here? And _what_ is going on?" I asked him.

"This is a Decepticon attack, ruthless and unpredictable. Megatron sent his troops to attack the hospitals and nurseries first, but luckily, we managed to escape and summon our own troops to hold them off and save as many Autobots as possible. As for how long we are going to be here, I don't know. We shall see how our defense system holds up. While we are speaking of defenses…" he said, bringing up the data pad that Hot Rod and I had been playing our game, only a couple of cycles before the attack.

While he was turning on the data pad and finding mine and Hot Rod's game, I stole a glance towards Silvershot. Ratchet seemed to be taking care of him, as I supposed he had a wound on his left arm, seeing as Ratchet was tending to him there. Had it been serious, I would have known.

"Now, this might have been just a game to you two, but your," he looked at me. "tactics and actions were illogical, yet perfectly functional."

"Mine?" I looked at him with my optics wider than usual. He didn't publicly praise, to avoid favoritism.

"Yes, allow me to explain." He said, clearly detecting my confusion and bringing up the holographic version of the battlefield. "This is your capital city, is it not?"

"Yes, sir." He motioned towards Iacon.

"And half of your troops are missing, correct?"

"Well, not missing, sir. I just redirected them to other cities, namely Altihex."

"And why is that?"

"To make a siege on his capital city, Kaon. Because Kaon held the most of his troops and his moves were only to aid it and not the surrounding cities, so I took up the opportunity of making a siege. Conquering his surrounding cities one by one and surrounding Kaon to make a sort of fortress around it, I successfully made a siege, therefore blocking his ways of defending himself. I eventually overmatched and outnumbered his troops, by using my own from Altihex, therefore resulting in a victory on my behalf."

"Brilliant." He said, looking over the schematics once more. Then, Silvershot and Ratchet joined us, watching the data pad and its information. "I should present this to Prime." Prowl said loudly, but the message was supposed to go to Ratchet.

Prime?

"Explain." Ratchet shortly said, having already finished on working on Silvershot, as Prowl started to explain exactly why my plan was supposed to go to a certain Prime's office.

"See how this represents Kaon? And this represents Iacon?" He motioned towards the capital cities, mine being Iacon and Hot Rod's being Kaon. "Ironhide." He called for a darkly colored mech that was amongst the other Autobots. He was taller than me, around Prowl's height if not a little shorter, but he had muscles the size of cannons. And then I noticed that he really had cannons, on a frighteningly leviathan scale. But Prowl seemed to be unfazed about them. "If we moved _our_ troops to surround Kaon, by moving our troops from Iacon to Protihex and from Uraya to Altihex, we could easily establish a siege."

Prowl's words did make sense. Praxus was bordering Iacon, Protihex and Uraya, so it was only reasonable. We were up on the northern hemisphere of Cybertron, while Kaon was down on the south. If we could keep up our defenses on the northern hemisphere of Cybertron, we could easily start cornering downwards, towards Kaon, until we occupied it completely. But if only things were that simple in real life.

"True, but what about Altihex?" Ironhide spoke up, his voice gruff and deep. "It also borders with Iacon and Uraya and bad things happen there. Besides, I don't think we have any troops in Altihex. It's just space researchers there. Researchers and innocent Autobots and Neutrals that the Decepticons could deactivate or worse, enslave."

That caused Prowl to think for a while. "Yes, and that is why we will transport the troops from Uraya to Alithex. We have to take Kalis under our control as well. Our main energon refineries are there and also the massive radio transmitter."

Which makes it a perfect place for the Decepticons to target. Could they not see that? If they cut off our main supplies of energon and easiest means of communication, not only would we all die by starvation, we would be disorganized.

The safe house suddenly shook, the metal panels of it creaking.

Silence greeted the empty room. A few kliks later, seeing as there was no danger coming our way, they continued discussing the battle plans and tactics.

"We have to have the Tri-Torus Loop under our control." Ironhide continued.

"Yes, but which city do we choose as the third? Iacon and Uraya are definite." Prowl questioned.

"I say all three." Ironhide nodded. "Why not use Praxus, Protihex and Altihex all at once?"

"All? That is too much, Ironhide." Ratchet spoke up.

"So? More soldiers means more chance of victory. Besides, your camp is set in Praxus, am I correct? Take your soldiers and create groups." Ironhide spoke to Prowl.

"More soldiers also mean more chances of them become casualties, especially young and inexperienced ones. More of our troops could deactivate by friendly fire, if not by the enemy's hands." Prowl defended Ratchet's statement. "Besides, I do not know if Prime will accept your idea. Combining Protihex, Praxus and Altihex _while_ using Iacon and Uraya as a command center, while Protihex is already known to have a ready command post? There are so many lives in Uraya and Iacon, and there aren't many troops trained for such actions."

"Well they're going to have to be trained, because right now, we have a war coming."

So that was it, I supposed. The Golden Age has ended.

This was war.

**As promised, the extra long chapter is now complete and I'm ready to move forward! Don't forget to check out the new poll on my profile.**

**Written:**

**07.05.2014.**


	11. Duck And Cover

**We're already one month old with this story and I'm loving the feedback you are all giving me. Thank you all so much! I'll make sure to make an extra long chapter for you all sometime soon.**

**It's imperative that you know that the war has just begun and the cadets don't know the leader of the Autobots nor the Decepticons. All will be learned and explained in due time.**

**Chapter 11: Duck And Cover **

As I was listening to them making a plan, I couldn't repress my need to speak up, because I had ideas that could contribute.

"Sirs…" I tentatively said, straightening myself and coming closer to the data pad. I was really hoping I wouldn't be rejected.

"Youngling, I would expect of you to stay where you should and not interrupt." Ironhide told me harshly, trying to push me away verbally, giving me an intensely scrutinizing look.

"Ironhide, cease this." Prowl gave him an annoyed look. "Continue, Goldstreak." He inclined his head with a nod, allowing me to proceed and enter their ring where they stood around the data pad.

"You know her?" Ironhide asked Prowl, surprised that he knew my name. Apparently, he hadn't been watching or listening when Prowl was only kliks ago telling Ratchet how my battle strategy should be sent to someone named Prime.

"Yes, she is my most talented student."

I almost blushed. Instead, I approached the pad and brought down the size of Cybertron, accentuating the largest cities. "Sir," I spoke to all of them at once, so whoever answered was welcome to. "wouldn't it be logical for... Metatron?" I tentatively asked.

"Megatron." Prowl corrected.

"Right, I apologize, sir. Wouldn't it be logical for Megatron to attack Kalis and destroy our main supply of energon? It would greatly weaken our forces and he could even make an ambush there if we wanted to take it under our control."

"Yes, that seems highly logical and very likely. Excellent, Goldstreak." Prowl said, turning over to look at more points on the pad. "But how do you explain the Tri-Torus Loop being under our control?"

"Sir, I think that what we are thinking of here, Megatron is thinking the same."

"Why is that?" This was like a test of my knowledge, seeing my actions, propositions and reactions to his numerous questions, all the while this being just mere speculation.

"See how the Tri-Torus Loop holds all of our troops? He's not going to attack Altihex, there's nothing he could find there. Space researchers won't do him any good, while attacking Iacon, he will have most of our forces deactivated if we leave them there. Instead of trying to make a siege by using our strongholds, where he is most likely to attack, we should move our troops to Kalis and Altihex. Praxus is already under attack, as you can see, and I don't think Uraya and Iacon are any different." I explained. "It's just a matter of time when the other cities will fall."

He stood silent for a moment, processing everything I had just told him.

"She does have a point, Prowl." Ratchet wisely said, rubbing his chin in thought. "This is a plan the Decepticons will most likely not foresee."

"It makes no sense." Prowl said. "Why would we transport all of our forces away from the weapon manufactories and strongholds? Iacon is most secure."

I answered in turn. "Because the Decepticons will be expecting us to have all of our soldiers there. And we know he has us outnumbered and overmatched. So I suggest moving our forces away to the smaller cities and as he comes close to conquering Iacon, we construct a siege around Iacon and Kaon, managing to get our stronghold back, and possibly conquer Kaon in the process."

He was silent again. "Make a siege around siege. That does make sense now. Prime will hear of this." He nodded to himself, extinguishing the pad's holographic display.

"She's good at tactics." Ironhide noted, eyeing me without any scrutiny this time. "Would have never guessed."

"Thank you, sir." I formally said, bowing my head in respect.

He only grunted, turning towards Ratchet to speak with him on some other matter, concerning upgrades on his cannons. I slowly walked backwards, getting further from the superiors, who were discussing something out of my audio's reach.

I bumped into a pair of arms, which protectively encircled around me. I looked down and the red and orange paint job told me it was no other than Hot Rod who was holding me. "Hey. I heard Prowl approved of what you told him." he said. His embrace was warm and inviting.

"Eavesdropping, aren't we?" I tempted, circling my servos around his forearms.

"Hm, a little." He grinned behind my audios, I just knew it.

"Hands off." A booming and thunderous voice greeted us. It was Silvershot. "Now."

Hot Rod let go of me, looking at Silvershot challengingly. "Silver, what are you-"

"I need to speak to you." He grimly said, grabbing my servo and dragging me away from Hot Rod rather roughly.

"What is with you?" I hissed at him, tugging my hand free when we got to an unoccupied corner of the safe house.

"I have to discuss your situation with Hot Rod."

"My what?"

"I know you told me you aren't mated with him, which makes me uneasy about him."

I didn't understand his sudden behavior. I lowered my voice. "Silver," I reached towards him and touched his chest plate. "You know Hot Rod for the same amount of time as I do. You know he hasn't done anything wrong."

"Yet."

"Look, if there was something deeper going on between me and him, you'd be the first to know."

"I don't want him near you."

I took my servo back and crossed my arms. "And why is that?"

"Call it brotherly protectiveness."

"Can I call it 'brotherly leave-me-alone'?"

"No."

I rolled my optics. "You're unbelievable. I'll do what I want, although I appreciate your concern."

"You are underage and you will do as I say."

"You have no right."

"Try me."

"I will." I narrowed my optics at him. "You're making me sick, Shot."

"The feeling is mutual." He swiftly replied.

"So you just dragged me out to tell me what? That I make you sick? That I can't be with Hot Rod? You accepted it cycles before!"

"Accepted what?" He bluntly said. "He is a player, Goldstreak."

"He is not." I defended Hot Rod.

"I don't want you hurt."

"I can't be hurt if I don't feel anything for him."

He was suddenly silent, his face blank. "You what?"

"What?"

"You don't feel anything for him?"

I shook my head, repressing to laugh and snort. "No, of course not. I've been doing this just for fun."

He seemed really relieved when I told him this. "Ah, so it is not Hot Rod who's the player. It's you."

"I'm not a player, and neither one of us is." I replied rather dumbly.

"You are just toying with him, are you not?"

When, when he puts it that way. "Yes."

"So what is toying other than playing?"

Oh. He did have a point. "Right… so what do you want me to say to you?"

"I think I know all I need to know. You're not going to get hurt, which is all that matters to me."

"Aren't you the sweetest thing." I mocked, pursing my lips and inclining my head to the side.

"Stop that. Return to whatever you were doing, I have to go speak with Prowl about this whole attack we got going on here. We need to evacuate citizens."

"Silver, there are trained Autobots for that. We aren't in that field."

"No, but I fear we soon will be."

"Silver…"

"No, you go back. I have to take care of this." He turned around and walked to the group of superiors. He fit right in between them. I only sighed, turning back to Hot Rod who was looking over the whole safe house, watching the metal panels pensively as they creaked.

**XxXxXxXxX**

"Alright, everybody listen up." Ironhide caught all of our attention with his bellow. We had been in this safe house for cycles already and we were all sitting on the filthy ground. We were hungry, some were injured amongst the congregate of other Autobot citizens and we desperately needed a plan and salvation. "We have created a plan."

Suddenly, a green colored Autobot citizen from the crowd of innocents rose up from his sitting position, cleaning his dirty hide. All I could see by just glancing at him was that he was a mech of middle age, but definitely not designed for war. "Do we have to participate?" He meant on the other citizens that were sitting on the ground where he was sitting with them, just moments ago.

"If you want to survive, yes." Ironhide bluntly said. "Now, we have managed to create a plan in which Hot Rod and Silvershot will create a diversion, allowing us to evacuate you to the nearest Autobot escape ship." He motioned towards Hot Rod and Silvershot, so that the citizens could see who was evacuating them. "We will initiate our plan in exactly three kliks."

"Why so soon?" The same green Autobot asked, bringing up his arms to show his confusion. "And what _ship_ is ever going to survive that mayhem they got going on outside?"

"We are doing this now because the ship will land in exactly 2.6 kliks and once it lands, you will immediately board it." Ironhide explained.

"And what about you?" The citizen asked once more. "You can't risk your lives for us."

"We are Autobots and that is our function. We must save lives." He humbly replied.

The green citizen only nodded and started to walk around nervously, inhaling and exhaling, cycling air quite loudly.

Things weren't easy for him, but then again they weren't easy for any of us. The gunfights outside had died down, but only by a little. And now I heard that Hot Rod and Shot were going to be the decoys. I didn't want anything to happen to them, and yet they were going straight into the heart of the battle, once more.

"Alright, everyone get ready. We initiate our escape in five astroseconds." Ironhide said as he motioned for Hot Rod and Silvershot to run out, yell and divert the 'Cons' attention from us. "Go!" he roughly said, taking the lead as we ran behind him, straight through the now open doors of the safe house.

Outside, the smell was horrible. The first thing that met my sensors for smell was the putrid gunpowder. That, and spilled energon, burnt and melted metal. It was disgusting, and Praxus used to be one of the most pristine cities in the Tri-Torus Loop.

I diverted my attention from the surroundings as I ran with the rest of the crew, following Ironhide to the ship that was amazingly well concealed within the destroyed buildings.

"Go, move!" Ironhide sharply yelled at the citizens, urging them all to aboard the ship.

"Sir, there's no more room!" The pilot came from his cabin as the last of the citizens boarded it. "We have to leave now!"

"Go, evacuate them." Ironhide nodded to him once and turned to us, more precisely, to Prowl as I caught a glance of the leviathan cannons glowing a blue and orange light within them. "There is nothing we can do now. We have to meet up with Optimus and discuss further action."

The ship soon took off, at first hovering above the ground and then it started to fly away.

"Look out!" Hot Rod suddenly yelled as a missile was headed straight for the ship.

"Duck and cover!" Ironhide yelled as we all ran and hid behind the nearest building, ducking and covering our helms.

An incredible explosion resounded through the streets, fire and dust particles flying beside us in massive amounts. I repressed a scream as I held my audios tighter, pulling my knees to my chest and bending forwards as the explosion's shockwave reverberated through our frames.

A hand on my shoulder caused me to open my tightly shut optics. "Come on." Silvershot yanked me to my feet as we ran. I didn't know in what direction we were running, but we were going via the least obstructed path, but it wasn't the safest way really. Laser fire and the sound of riffles' ammunition running out and being replaced with a new clip filled the atmosphere. We just had to get out of this alive, no matter how bruised.

As we continued to sneakily approach the camp, which was in view now, as I had recognized the remainder of the buildings that used to surround it and we slipped into the field, sprinting to the entrance.

As the last of us went in, Hot Rod shut the door rather loudly, panting as the rest of us. We took a moment to catch our breaths, just stopping to give our systems some time to cool off. Then Prowl straightened himself, speaking in a tone more commanding than I had ever known it to be. "Cadets, take all the resources you can get and fill your compartments and subspace. We will find the remaining cadets that are still in the camp. Rendezvous in five kliks here." He ordered as he, Ironhide and Ratchet dispersed randomly, each running to find mechs.

"You heard him, to the refueling area. Quickly." Silvershot said as we jogged to the refueling area. The good news was the dispensers were full and untouched. The bad news was that we had to carry all that energon with us. It wasn't exactly light.

"Take this. Take it all." Silver shoved about a dozen cubes into my arms, shoving some more to Hot Rod and so on. "Take everything, we'll need all that we can carry." He said as I opened a compartment located on my shoulder and stuffed three cubes in there. I put the rest in my tight and small sized subspace.

"I'm full." I said, showing my empty hands.

"Subspace?"

"Filled."

"We'll have to get you an upgrade on that." Silvershot said.

"Noted." I nodded as the rest subspaced their energon cubes and slid them into compartments of their own.

"Goldstreak!" a sudden call turned me around as I tried to find the source of it. I was met with Cliffjumper's strong and crushing hug. "Primus, you're online!"

"Who said I wasn't?" I said with a smile as he released me, looking into my optics.

He lowered his voice. "I heard what happened. When I get my hands on-"

"They took care of it." I assured him, putting my hands on his chest to console him. "Hot Rod and Silvershot took care of it."

"And they didn't wait for me?"

I smiled at him, although I was feeling bad on the inside. I had nothing to smile about, I had been fragged out of my processor and Primus knew if I would ever be able to conceive sparklings after this. Ratchet and I did have a very short discussion about this, unfortunately without any details or facts that could be vouched for. The rape had left me completely scarred, more so mentally than physically. Physically you can heal rather quickly compared to mental scars. We rendezvoused with Ironhide in front of the main entrance of the camp as we waited for Prowl and Ratchet to show up.

"Cadets, we're going. We've received news that this camp will be leveled with the ground soon, so we must evacuate immediately." Ironhide came up to us, cannons battle ready and on standby.

"Gold," Bumblebee suddenly emerged from behind Ironhide, his voice filled with panic and anguish. "I can't find Blue or Springer!" Oh slag.

"What do you mean you can't find them, where are they?" My spark started to beat faster. We had to get them out of here before the Decepticons reach the camp.

"They're here somewhere, I've seen them, but I don't know where. I've been trying to com them, but the comlinks are down and I searched the whole camp for them-"

"Maybe they've already fled?"

"Without us? Don't think so. We have to find them, come on!" he grabbed my servo and started dragging me away. A tug on my other servo caused little pain in my arms, nothing I couldn't handle, but it was quite unpleasant. It was like playing Tug of War. Quite the irony.

"You're not going anywhere." Ironhide ordered, not releasing his hold on me. "You two are to stay here until further notice and I dare you disobey a direct order."

It was very visible that Bumblebee wanted to add something, to retort, to fight for finding his friends, but when a superior was involved, there was no getting around them. Ironhide was a weapons specialist and he outranked even the superiors here, but not Prowl. Prowl was a tactician, and bots running mindlessly with weapons in arms was never a good thing, which is why everybody firstly needed directions, and Prowl was an outstanding guide.

Once Ironhide released his hold on me, Ratchet had arrived, behind him standing Bluestreak and Springer. "Blue! Springer!" I called for them as they embraced me into their arms quickly. "Come on, we're getting out of here." I said.

"No." Bluestreak said, digging his feet into the ground. "I'm staying here."

"Are you out of your processor?" Ironhide glared at him. "It's a slagging war zone out there, youngling."

"We have to find my mother." Springer said. "I'm not going without her."

"There comes a time young warrior, where you must move on." Ratchet told him wisely. "There will be times when you will have to leave your creators an-"

"No! Listen, she's out there and she's online! I know she is!" Springer sounded outraged. "I'm staying here! You can give us the coordinates to the new base once you get there, but I'm not slagging leaving without my carrier." He sternly replied.

"Blue, then why are _you_ staying here?" I looked at him dubiously.

"I'm going to help him find his carrier."

"Are you glitching? You two will deactivate trying to find-"

"I'd rather deactivate trying than not try at all." Springer said. "Besides, wouldn't you do the same if it was Silvershot in my carrier's place?"

I would have gone through pit and back for him and Springer did have a point there. "I suppose you're right." Of course he was right. "But this doesn't make things easier." I told him seriously.

"Who said it would? Listen Gold, you go, save yourselves. We'll rendezvous when I find my carrier."

"And if you don't find her? Then what?" I pressed, grabbing his forearm gently. "I don't want to-"

"I'll find her."

"How? And if you don't?"

"I just…" he sighed. "I'll find her. I have to." He determinedly said, no longer interested in other attempts at normal communication. I couldn't change his mind. Nor could I change Bluestreak's opinion. Maybe I wasn't good enough at verbal enforcement? What if I couldn't change his mind and he offlined because of it?

No, I couldn't take responsibility for actions and decisions that were not my own. I knew that full well. I had to stop questioning myself so many times, for Primus' sakes. I need self confidence in this time of great need.

"We have to leave, now." Prowl came from the hallway. "I have calculated a route towards the new base. It's not going to be an easy travel to the destination, but it will be more than worth it."

"What's the place designated?" Ironhide asked him.

"It's not."

"It's not designated?" Ratchet inquired.

"I thought my statement was clear. The destination does not have a designation."

"Then how the slag do we find it?" Ironhide's voice grew deeper with irritation.

"I know exactly where it is, but the trip will not be easy. Come, we must hurry." He said as he went to the exit with all of us following him.

"I hope you find your carrier and make it." I told Springer sincerely, wishing him luck. "Both of you." I turned to Bluestreak, hugging him tightly. I didn't want to lose them, they were my friends.

"We'll be alright." Springer nodded, but then paused. "Thank you." He suddenly said.

"For what?"

"For being a friend when I needed one."

That softened my spark. "Of course, Springer." I said with a sincere smile.

Then, Prowl caught all of our attention. "You will need to strip your paint." He said.

"What?" a lot of conjoined voices resounded. "What for?" Hot Rod looked at him, flabbergasted, suddenly showing up by my side.

"To not draw attention. It is only until we get to the destination. From there…" he sighed. "We'll see what we will do from there. Now, take this solvent." He gave us a cube filled with grayish liquid and only one piece of cloth. "Soak the cloth in the solvent. Quickly rub the paint out, this is strong solvent. And hurry, there isn't much time left."

After kliks spent in aggressively rubbing each other's backs because we could not reach certain places, we were all void of paint and I felt… ugly. Ironhide and Prowl didn't have to take their paints off. Their normal black, silver and white plating was enough to keep them inconspicuous.

Prowl looked outside through a window, watching the situation on the battlefield. It had grown quite quiet. Could Praxus have been demolished so easily? "I have made a special comlink for us to speak through. It is encrypted, therefore nobody except us can breach it or hear in on it. Use it only if necessary, we do not want to attract attention to ourselves. Move with agility and silence." He ordered as he started transforming into his alt mode. We followed suit as we stood by the exit, engines silently running and ready to move with the next order. "Autobots, roll out."

**Written:**

**09.05.2014.**


	12. The War Has Begun

**Thank you all for getting this story to pass the 100 review perimeter! If you have read my story 'Two Worlds, One Family' (Ironhide/OC, which has over a thousand reviews and has made people cry quite a lot), I couldn't shut up when it came to 'perimeters'. So, I'll just be mentioning these perimeters only when they have some sort of meaning to me and I want to share the excitement with you, occasionally reward you for taking the time to review with a longer chapter.**

**Chapter 12: The War Has Begun**

_**12 cycles later…**_

We were travelling through the ruins of Praxus, restlessly and cautiously swerving around the debris that decorated the streets. Along with the characteristic stench of gunpowder, melted metal and energon, the sight hurt. We were travelling in absolute silence, one behind the other, each carefully driving and trying to evade running over various metal scrap that would creak when put on pressure. Praxus has been obliterated, mangled and destroyed beyond repair. All done by the sole command of the Decepticon leader.

How I had grown to hate the Decepticons. 12 cycles spent in complete silence had given me time to think about the past, present and the future. How everything had changed in a little over 12 cycles. My home was destroyed, my friends were left in the battlefield, half of them possibly offline. And I? I could do nothing about it.

Who knew how many lives have been lost already? We intercepted no Autobot in the 12 cycles we have been travelling through the city. None. So why were we alive when so many lives had been lost? Maybe it wasn't mine to ask.

It was tiring, to say the least. Constantly driving through the ruins of the city, without pausing or refueling. But we had finally managed to exit Praxus as we went through lands that were nobody's to claim. It was simply an empty space between Praxus and Primus knew what. But we had trusted Prowl enough to lead us safely towards our sanctuary, wherever it may be.

So then why were _we_ privileged to a sanctuary, when so many others were not? It didn't seem fair. There were these endless questions that kept arising, and although nothing was said aloud, it was clear that they were occupying others' processors, as well. Then again, we had tried saving all that we could. So what had happened to the other superiors? Enforcer, Tradewind and alike? The rest of the cadets, Blue, Springer?

And what happened to my mother, Vectra? I could care less about Railgun, even though he was my father. I disliked thinking about him.

All of the many questions that kept arising and would not be answered in the near future.

A tugging at my spark shook me from my pacifistic thoughts. I knew it was Silvershot wanting to say something to me, so I let him in. He was quite welcome, because there was finally someone who dared talk. I had been trapped in my thoughts for a dozen cycles, I needed somebody to talk to anyway.

"_I know what's going through your processor."_ He said through the bond as I was driving right behind him, through an area that increasingly became more dangerous and unstable. "_Constantly asking yourself questions won't bring the answers."_

"_So what do I do, Silver? Why was there no warning prior to the attack? No alarms, no signals, nothing? We should have had an emergency signal of some kind to inform us of a preceding attack."_

After a short silence, he spoke back. "_There's nothing that you could have done, Goldstreak. They chose their own fates." _I knew he was talking about Bluestreak and Springer, as he switched the subject so swiftly. He was callous.

"_How dare you say that? They were your friends! Primus Silvershot, they were mechs you knew!"_

"_I dare say it because I had not considered them friends in any way."_

"_You callous, sparkless gli-"_

"_Enough. I didn't do this, so don't get angry with me. Learn to control your temper and emotions."_**  
**

"_Don't lecture me." _I sighed out at the end, as he sent a wave of calm through the bond. The action was grotesque, but at least he was trying to put my worries aside and put me at ease. I wanted to fight it and to stay mad at him for what he had just said, but I couldn't. The feeling of calmness was much needed, but only slightly appreciated. I was still very mad at him.

Suddenly, the encrypted comlink was opened and the messenger was Prowl. _**"We will be crossing the swamp. Consume one cube of energon without transforming before we continue. Keep away from the corrosive gasses and proceed with caution." **_His short instruction stated and was expected to be obeyed. Only when things were very serious and when Prowl wasn't in the mood, he stated things extremely formally. I was growing stiff from driving in my alt half the mega-cycle, but I thought of this as another endurance training. I had to get through this.

It took a lot of concentration on my part before I got one cube out of my compartment and into my fuel tank. I could already feel myself a little revitalized and powered up, but only slightly. Factually, energon could not replace standard recharge.

Prowl had shut down the encrypted comlink as he led the group straight through what had seemed to be a swamp filled with corrosive gasses we were supposed to evade. We had to make sure we didn't fall into the swamp's craters, otherwise there was no saving us and not even the best medic on Cybertron, and by that I mean Ratchet, could save us from deactivation.

So far we were doing alright. We were not targeted by Decepticons or anybody else for that matter, and I didn't have a feeling that we were being watched. We only had to look out where we were rolling our tires on. Apparently, the gravel and unpaved roads were quite insecure and to our dismay, all the ground we were driving on was soft gravel, which eroded if a lot of pressure and weight were being forced on it. No wonder Prowl had told us to proceed with caution.

A sudden flash over my HUD told me to stop moving, so let my brakes squeeze the disks on my wheels, effectively stopping me in place. Something wasn't right.

The group in front of us moved at a slower pace, but my HUD told me to stay put.

And an astrosecond later, a huge eruption of corrosive gas erupted from the swamp near me, pushing the gas right where we were going through. I stayed put until the gas had subsided, only then accelerating slightly, to keep up with the rest of the group as we went over the unpaved, rough and ever eroding roads.

Other than that, it took us about two more cycles to get out of the swamp and I was beginning to get a headache. I wasn't one for whining to superiors, so I sucked it up and didn't tell Ratchet. No need to. All setbacks, such as attending to my non-passing headache, would only delay our arrival to the destination Prowl had set out for us.

As we had exited the swamp, the air seemed to be so much cleaner on this side. Cleaner than I have ever had the chance to inhale, for even in Praxus the air wasn't this clean. This was good for our systems, for cycling air. In front of us, there were no obstructions, only a large clearing where our civilization had never stepped foot on.

Prowl transformed and so did we. I stretched, letting the cracking of my protoform soothe me, while my headache thrummed with lessening pain and I began to feel tired, worn out. "We will rest here for four cycles and hide in the shadows of the swamp." He explained patiently. "Then, a means of air transportation will aid us towards our destination."

"Air? Who the frag is so insane to be flying in the middle of a war? Do you not see this clearing?" Ironhide protested, pointing towards the clearing that had absolutely no way of hiding anyone or anything in it. "The Seeker's gonna get offlined!"

Seeker? I didn't know what that was, but I supposed it was some sort of aerial transportation.

"Which is why an automated drone will be transporting us." Prowl spoke back.

"That makes a large difference, Prowl." Ratchet wisely added. "Although we are out in the open, I'm unsure as of whether that is such a good idea."

"It's the only option we have now." Prowl answered calmly, unfazed by Ironhide's groaning, cursing and protest.

"Does anyone have wounds that I must attend to?" Ratchet spoke to us, looking over everyone.

I glanced to my side, only to see the rest of my friends shaking their heads. "No, Ratchet." I replied.

"Good, because I wasn't up for fixing anyone anyway." He said, transforming into his alt mode, lazily driving over to hide in the shadow of the swamp's metallic trees as he extinguished his headlights.

"Sir," I spoke to Prowl. "Shouldn't one of us be guarding the rest? In case a threat is near us?"

"Yes, which is why that job will be taking Ironhide." He nodded. Seeing as I had no more inquiries, he transformed into his alt mode, parking next to Ratchet.

I supposed this was it. Ironhide seemed completely fine with staying up this whole time as I transformed into my alt as well, taking cover in the shadows of the trees as I let my processor wander freely, until I reached the phase of recharge. I hadn't felt so tired…

...since the day Fireblaster did what he had done to me. I didn't want to remember it, yet it was always in the back of my processor.

**XxXxXxXxX**

It was very easy to wake up from recharge. Other than the internal alarm that went off that woke me up, I wasn't getting much recharge anyway. In front of me, the drone plane was hovering just a little above the ground, but it was oddly silent. It was colored in a dull, monotone gray color and was adorned with many dents. It looked like it had been shot at multiple times.

"Hurry. The sooner we get into the plane, the sooner we can leave." Silvershot said as we all transformed and walked into the plane, the door closing only when we were all safely inside. But we weren't the only ones in the large plane, no. There was one femme, from the looks of it, and two mechs. Only these bots had their frames colored, although scratched from battle, and we looked like homeless bots next to them. It was such a contrasting picture. But their paints weren't immaculate, far from it. Chips and dents in their armor were there clearly visible, but not regarded.

The femme seemed to recognize the superiors from my team. For an astrosecond, and only an astrosecond, they all stared at each other in disbelief. Prowl was the first to collect himself first as he took a respectful bow towards her. "Elita." He said.

"Prowl, Ratchet, Ironhide." She bowed to them as well. I wondered who she was. All that I could say for her was that her deep purple paint job, as chipped and ruined as it was, suited her perfectly. And her frame… she was every mech's dream. Although she seemed older than me, a lot older. "Is everything alright? Ratchet, what happened to your frame?" She gave him a searching look, obviously intrigued as to why he was missing his greenish yellow paint.

"Praxus was destroyed." He solemnly replied as nobody else spoke a single word in conjunction with him. "We had to evacuate, but in doing so successfully, we had to remove our paint, to avoid attention."

"What of the camp?" Her deep voice resounded as we lifted up into the air and began flying to Primus only knew where. But we were going high, into the depths of the atmosphere, where darkness was the only thing we could see through the transparent, large windows on the drone's walls.

"The camp was destroyed, as well." He shook his head as he let it slightly lower. "We could have saved two Cybertronians… I fear their lives will be lost."

"What do you mean, old friend?" She asked him, putting a servo on his shoulder and looking at him from under perturbingly. "I will need a report on everything that has occurred in Praxus." She turned to Prowl.

"And you will receive one." Prowl nodded to her.

I couldn't listen in to their conversation, so I walked towards the two rows of seats that were placed conversely of one another, meaning the seats were facing each other. They looked bare and rough, but would have to do unless I wanted to recharge against a wall, which was certainly not within my plans. I was tired and my joints needed rest.

I took a seat, settling myself in the middle of Silvershot and Hot Rod. There were two mechs in front of us, both exceedingly looking alike. I looked over them once, as they weren't even looking at us. One was in recharge while the other was simply looking around. Primus knew, we all should have been in recharge.

I found myself leaning on Silver's shoulder, resting my helm on it. At first I had expected him to roughly nudge me away, but he didn't. Perhaps he was over the 'younger sibling domination' thing. It was about time anyway. I had gotten sick of it.

Shutting my optics, I let myself drift into forced recharge, but only for two cycles. I couldn't recharge on my own for I hadn't known what had happened to Bluestreak and Springer. Many horrible things could happen and I didn't want to think about them, so I invoked forced recharge, duration: 2 cycles.

I was out like a light.

**Don't forget to check the poll on my profile, it's pertaining to writing a new story, a TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) one.**

**Written:**

**11.05.2014.**


	13. Your New Home

**Some of you might be wondering what verse this is. This story's characters are a mix of G1 and Bayverse. They all have Bayverse bodies, but the characters from G1 that don't appear in Bay's movies, have the same coloration they had in G1. The characters that were used in Bay's movies stay the way they were in Bay's movies. Example, Hot Rod will have the same coloration from G1, but Sideswipe won't be red, he'll be silver, because Bay made him silver.**

**Chapter 13: Your New Home**

My recharging position wasn't quite one of the most comfortable ones, which was the very reason why my neck cords hurt like slag when I woke up. I slowly rose up from my seat, trying to stretch carefully.

I took a cube from the compartment in my shoulder and slowly started drinking it. I needed the energy. One thing I noticed was that I was the only one at these seats, everybody else had already moved away from them. My forced recharge didn't aid me much, but it was better than nothing.

I walked over to the large windows with my cube in hand as I straightened myself, putting one cold servo under my armpit, drinking my energon calmly with my other servo. It was cold in here as I watched the space in front of me, surrounded solely by my thoughts.

Space was everything. Within its darkness lied the answers to all of our questions. It was the shelter for every life source where everyone could coexist peacefully and uninterruptedly. Where the various planets and suns danced around each other, the stars exploding from time to time and where asteroids travelled freely, almost representing sentient beings.

But as I watched it all occur in front of my eyes, it would seem that space was oblivious to what was going on in it. War had been planting its seed within it with no approval or disapproval, it would seem like it was meant to happen. Destruction was all around us, slowly taking over the peacefulness of the space.

But it was also calming, as disturbing as it was. Space could be a mixture of life and death, of eternal rest and battle, a mixture of presence and absence. The beginning and the end, all in one.

I took another drink of my energon, letting its taste sink deep into my taste sensors. It had been calm on the plane, calmer than it had been for me since my arrival on the camp. Ever since that day, it had been constant training, countless reports and studying. I wondered what would happen to us now, now that the camp has been destroyed and we were to be moved somewhere. Somewhere, we had no idea where.

As I continued to look at the dark space through the window, solemnly reminiscing on the glorious days of Praxus, I felt a presence near me. "It's awful isn't it." I heard Hot Rod say rhetorically. "Forced to evacuate the city, only to not even be told where we're going. Kinda seems unfair, don't you think?"

"I think anything is better than being stuck in that camp." I sighed out, the immediate picture of Fireblaster with his red optics and malicious grin appearing on my HUD. I shoved it away, looking down on my cube. I couldn't repress a shudder that shook my whole frame and Hot Rod didn't fail to notice it, as the energon within the cube oscillated.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine." I groggily said, downing the rest of my cube's contents and putting it away on a nearby end table. I was so angry at myself whenever I thought of what Fireblaster managed to do to me. How helpless and weak I was, I never wanted to feel that way again. But it was too late now and the anger seemed as if it would never pass.

"You don't seem fine." He gave me a searching look.

"I _said_ I was fine!" I burst out with a lash of anger at him. His optics had grown wide with surprise as he quickly put his hands in front of him. Did he think I was threatening him? No…

"It's okay Goldstreak, no need to get excited."

I shook my head, breathing in large breaths. "I'm sorry, Rod." No doubt my shrill voice could have been heard by the whole crew on the plane. "I didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't." he calmly said, walking towards me with confidence. "It's been hard, I understand." His arms found their way around my back, my helm resting over his chest. "Especially to you." I knew what he meant. And he was completely right about it being hard on me. "So just take it easy, it'll all sort itself out."

Yeah, sort itself out my aft. "You're right." Of course he wasn't right. Things didn't magically sort themselves out. My throat had begun to hurt badly as I knew that I was on the verge of spilling tears. Primus knows I haven't had a good cry since the whole mayhem had started. I needed to vent my anger out and the only way I knew how to do it was through tears. I couldn't cry, not again. I would cry when I was alone, now was not appropriate. I would be called a coward, a weak spark, and I never wanted to be like that again. Never again.

I swallowed thickly as the pain in my throat lessened and I reluctantly let go of Hot Rod's embrace. It had been warm and welcoming, but I knew that even though I _could_ linger in there forever, I shouldn't. I had to stand up for myself. My failure in doing so would haunt me forever, as it did now.

'_Autobots, landing in 5.6 kliks.'_ A sudden announcement over the speakers was obvious. I guess we should prepare for landing.

Hot Rod and I started walking side by side towards the main center of the plane, where logically, everybody else would be. And we weren't wrong. Among our dully colored frames, the three colored ones stood out, confirming that Elita and the two mysterious mechs were present as well. I was oddly intrigued into knowing who they were, but I didn't dare introduce myself. Not in front of Silvershot and the rest of my friends. Primus knew what kind of thoughts they'd be getting into their processors if only I had gone there to introduce myself, acting all friendly after I had burst out on Hot Rod.

Besides, wouldn't we be introduced to each other at some point? I mean, if we are all here together, we are probably going to the same destination. Which would mean we would be a part of something, right?

This time, I took a good look at the two mechs. They seemed distracted enough with talking to each other to notice me eyeing them. They were both very similar in build, although their helms seemed to be different. The yellow colored mech had fins on his head, while the other had something I could describe only as square antennas, although they weren't that visible. They were quite nice to look at, I would give them that. Frames of beyond average build and defined muscles adorning their relaxed, yet straightened poses.

Unfortunately for me, when I was eyeing their shoulders and chests, the silver colored one turned his head towards me, catching me red handed. I looked into his optics with an embarrassed smile and turned my head to the side. It was so embarrassing, being caught while eyeing someone. I bit my lower lip in embarrassment, shutting my optics tightly. I had to be better than this.

I managed to collect myself as I inconspicuously walked near them, trying to listen in on their conversation. I had nothing else to do and I was intrigued by them. But I didn't go unnoticed as I pretended to be checking out the plates on my forearm. "That's the only femme on this ship." One of them said and I knew they were talking about me.

"I'm sure Elita is a femme too, you dim spark."

"Yeah, but I meant on soldiers."

"Elita is a soldier, too."

"Uh, no, she's a commander." The other bluntly replied.

"Who is outranked by Prime, therefore she is his soldier."

The first snorted. "Whatever."

Suddenly, the whole ship started shaking as I moved to the wall to keep myself from falling as it leaned slightly to one side. I horrible stench of melted metal met my smell sensors.

This wasn't good.

'_Experiencing engine problems, prepare for emergency bailout. Repeat, prepare for bailout.' _The intercom resounded in a monotone voice. Bailout? How the frag do I bailout out of a ship?!

Elita turned to all of us, taking control immediately. "Alright, listen up! Grab the emergency parachutes and get off! You've been trained for this!" she ordered.

Just _when_ have we been trained for this? Apparently, they missed this out on camp!

Suddenly, a parachute backpack was shoved into my arms. I had nothing else to do but slide my arms thorough the holds and adjust it so it fitted my frame.

"This way, follow me!" she commanded in her incredibly deep voice as we ran behind her through a room that smelled of burnt rubber and melted metal, probably where the engine was based. She punched a red button on the wall as suddenly, a door began to lower and the ship we had been on was in Cybertron's atmosphere once more. "This is not a drill! The ship's going to crash so let's make this smooth!"

A shortage in the ship's circuitry caused a sparks to rain down on us, causing a lot of irritation as it met our arm and leg plates. I hissed slightly as I rubbed my plates quickly, trying to get the burning sensation off of me. It didn't hurt, it just irritated a lot.

"Alright, the blue bridle is your primary parachute! If it doesn't go off when you pull it hard, tug on the red one! Now let's go, move!" she said as the ship started leaning in another direction, descending at an alarming rate and a crash was imminent if we didn't not evacuate this instant. I clung onto a wall which's platings were sticking out.

The first ones to bailout were Hot Rod and Mirage, followed by Cliffjumper and Ironhide. Silvershot looked at me once as I nodded to him and he dived out as well, knowing that I didn't need any help.

Well, maybe I needed a small push in the right direction. But it was all safe wasn't it? As safe as a crashing ship and an emergency bailout I was never prepared for could be, anyway.

"You ready?" A mech from my left resounded, catching my attention, a tinge of a challenge and excitement in his voice. It was one of those mechs that accompanied Elita when I first got on the ship. I shook my head at him staring through the exit at the ground. We were slowly, very slowly, losing altitude as some of the ship's hovering thrusters began to activate. "Think of it this way. A race, you and me." He grinned, as his finger went from me to him, emphasizing the 'you and me' part.

Well, if I don't get out soon, I might as well crash with the ship to the point of no return. I managed to nod at him as he counted down from three to one as we both got out at the same time, diving into the air. It was a fragging huge leap of faith. Astroseconds later, an explosion erupted from where we had jumped and I was grateful that I wasn't caught in the fire. The superiors must've jumped right after us.

We weren't really that close to the ground, but it wasn't as bad or frightening as I thought it would be. It almost felt calm, yet very exciting and I was quite nervous at the same time. This was awesome, to say the least. Well, every leap of faith was, but the mixed feelings were hard to make out.

The closer I was to the ground, the more my fear of heights was leaving me. I had come to enjoy it, this freefall. It really wasn't that scary to me, but I wasn't fearless either. My paralyzing fear sometimes kicked in, but that was a long time ago, more than 6 joors had passed since then.

I looked to my left, seeing the silver mech that dared a race to the ground with me. I cut through the air like a blade, speeding down as fast as I could, to reach the ground before him. It was ridiculously fun as I felt a chuckle escape my vocalizer. It was all a matter of perspective, although I never refused a good challenge.

But as we continued to do this, I waited for the perfect opportunity to release my chute. I had hoped I would endure longer than him and that he would open up his chute first, but no such thing happened. He was determined to beat me just as I was determined to beat him.

Deciding that such a race wasn't worth my life, I reached for the blue bridle, the one Elita had said was our primary one. I yanked it really hard, expecting the parachute to open within astroseconds.

Nothing happened and the ground became nearer.

No, no, no, no.

I pulled the blue bridle too many times to count, but the chute did not deploy. I reached for the red bridle on the other side of the backpack and yanked it just as hard. Nothing happened.

Oh slag. Oh fragging slag.

"What's wrong?!" the silver mech next to me gave me an odd look, but was unfazed by the ground becoming nearer every passing astrosecond.

"Parachute won't open!" I yelled back as I started to inwardly pray to Primus as the ground was too close for comfort. Well, this was goodbye then. If Vectra was in the Well, I'd be joining her. And if she wasn't, I'd be waiting for her and Silvershot in there. I prayed for a miracle and prayed for a savior and prayed that the chutes would magically deploy, but of course, nothing was Primus sent.

I had braced myself for impact which would only take astroseconds to arrive, but I felt a strong pair of arms envelop around me and with a sudden tug of a bridle, I was no longer in freefall. I opened my optics, which I hadn't known I had even shut from fear, and found myself in the embrace of the silver mech, my arms tightly around his neck so that I wouldn't fall from his hold. He had a smile on his face as the parachute started to lower us to the ground, but it was still at an uncomfortable speed.

We weren't going to land well and from the looks of it, we were going to land right into the crew of the ship that had already landed. "Hold on tight, we're gonna make a mess!" he yelled as I gripped his chest plates and braced myself for a less powerful impact. Just before we were to land, I managed to spot a large structure not too far from here. But then again, I could only glance at it, because next thing I knew, the silver mech and I had crashed into someone.

"What the frag?!" the mech we had crashed into yelled angrily as the three of us tumbled on the ground, rolling over each other until we came to a complete stop. I had to repress groans of pain that wanted to escape from my vocalizer, but I kept them at bay. As we had stopped tumbling, I found myself lying over someone on my abdomen. I groaned as I forced myself up on my arms, standing in something that could only be described as a pushup position. Primus only knew how many of them I had done, because now, my arms no longer trembled and I actually felt like I could do pushups. Training did that kind of stuff to you.

As I glanced at my arms, I saw streaks of yellow paint adorning them in scratches, rivaling the dull unpainted frame of mine. But right now, I had to get myself off the mech and I gladly did so, rolling on the ground away from him because it was easier. I sighed, but suddenly heard a loud groan as I rested on my hip, trying to catch my breath and dismiss the warning roster on my HUD.

"Sideswipe, you idiot!" the golden-yellow colored mech yelled. The silver one didn't pay attention, instead, he was laughing, amused by all of this. "You glitch, get off!" he bellowed as he tried to get the silver mech off of him with a very rough shove.

"Sorry!" the silver mech said, getting himself off of the golden mech. Now that I looked closely, propping myself on my forearms, I could see that the coloring of this mech had been more golden than yellow. Hues were in the question and luckily, I was good in that department.

"OFF! Frag, my paint! You'll pay for this!" his optics steeled, glaring at the silver mech. I watched it all from the ground soundlessly, thinking over how I could either intervene or let the situation unfold itself on its own.

"Sunny, I said I was sorry!" The silver backed up, putting his hands in the air, as if surrendering, as the golden mech angrily walked towards him.

"Sunny is not my name, and sorry doesn't mean slag!" Does he curse or what! He threateningly pointed his finger at the silver mech, whose name was presumably Sideswipe.

"Knock it off twins." Prowl came towards them and separated them. "Unless you want to go to the brig, because that can be arranged quite easily." He threatened, eyeing both of the mechs. Seeing as they had not replied, Prowl moved away from them, walking somewhere I didn't care look. I wonder where did Prowl know these two from.

"Sorry." Sideswipe repeated after giving his brother an apologizing look. They did look quite similar in build, although I had already noted that. By Prowl's short conversation with them, they were obviously twins. Suddenly, Sideswipe turned towards me. "And sorry to you, too." He said, walking to me and offering his hand. "I shouldn't have left you on the ground."

"It's alright, you saved my life. How can I get back at you?" I asked as he easily lifted me off the ground and pinned me to him, his hand immediately circling around my waist. Oho, he was certainly in his element already and I was too surprised to react.

"How about a-"

"Sideswipe!"

He rolled his optics and looked to the golden colored mech, his optics narrowing as he answered, his voice sounding irritated. "What?"

"Leave the femme alone." The golden mech morosely said as he walked over to me and Sideswipe. He sighed and let me go as the golden mech stood in front of us. "I apologize for my dumb twin's actions. I'm Sunstreaker." He said. I noticed that his paint was even glossier and shinier than Sideswipe's, even though it was chipped now, and so was Sideswipe's and mine.

"My designation is Goldstreak." I said bowing in respect as they did likewise. "You two are twins?" I inquired.

They nodded. "I'm the better looking twin." Sideswipe jollily said.

Sunstreaker snorted in return. "As if."

I couldn't exactly argue. Both were quite handsome, but had their differences, at least in personality and it was clear at first sight.

"Front and center!" Ironhide commanded as we all hurried up to come in front of the whole squad of superiors, standing straight in front of them. "The base is only a couple of kliks away from here, so we are going to transform and roll out." He waited an astrosecond before the information sunk in. "Let's go." He finished his instructions and they were short and clear, which was appreciated.

We transformed and followed them in formation, one behind the other. Kliks later, we had arrived at the base. As the superiors transformed into their bipedal forms, so did we. And I was absolutely astonished with the base's exterior. If I had thought the camp was large, this base… it was humongous, to say the least. This was the structure I had seen from above.

Things were certainly going to be quite interesting around here. I had a feeling they would.

**Written: **

**12.05.2014.**


	14. Your New Family

**I'm glad you liked how Sunny, Sides and Gold got acquainted. It really helped me and through your reviews I know exactly what you're expecting to happen and that helps greatly when developing the plot and writing. So thank you all for your taken out time to write a review.**

**Chapter 14: Your New Family **

One would think that coming here they'd meet a lot of bots. That they'd even make friends on the first day and that everything would be fine afterwards.

Well, it wasn't exactly like that.

After we have been given the tour of the Academy, it still took us quite a while to get the rooms right. I stuck to Silvershot wherever I went, careful not to separate from him and wind up somewhere lost and alone. Now that would have been embarrassing.

Instead, we had all been given a schedule, filled with trainings. It was similar to the schedule we had back at camp, only these trainings were more difficult and for the first time ever, we had to practice maneuvers with weapons. We had gained many training sessions, some of them being self defense, but with the use of weapons, as well as sharpshooting, spying, scouting and so on.

As for the special group Prowl had told us he would be assigning us to, it turned out that as the only survivors of the camp, we _were_ the group, consisting of Hot Rod, Silvershot, Cliffjumper, Mirage, Bumblebee and I. But now that we were the sole survivors that were present here, there was no special treatment or special training for us. I had wondered if I would ever be able to discover my specialty, as Prowl had told us all of us have a specialty we were made for. We would have been finding our specialty in that special group, but seeing as there was no group, I supposed I wouldn't know my specialty.

Everything here was extremely different here. We were completely secluded from any cities that could be surrounding us. Point was, we didn't know exactly where we were. We weren't even on the map of Cybertron. It was like this place didn't exist within Cybertron's blueprints, which not only was illicit, it was beyond confusing.

But nonetheless, we still had to train for the war to come. It may not have been here, wherever we were, but it would consume all of Cybertron, piece by piece and until then, we had to be prepared and on guard.

Right now, I was in the rec room, trying to figure it all out. It had a couple of screens on the walls, all of them next to each other, mimicking a single large screen. And in front of it was a large accommodation, consistent of many couches, tables, chairs and so on. Certainly, it looked like a normal rec room.

I crossed my arms across my chest as I walked slowly, looking over every detail, carefully putting one foot in front of the other as I roamed the room freely. Today we weren't on duty and we could go wander to wherever our sparks desired. Some of my friends went out of the Academy, to get a look on the various devices splayed outside, most probably some kind of training machines that we would be introduced to tomorrow. I was more interested in the internal structure of the Academy. They would fair better on the outside, at least for now, while I would dominate the inside.

Suddenly, I felt a presence near me, watching me. It was an odd feeling, so I turned around to where I thought the source was, uncrossing my arms and being on guard. And my hunch had proved to be correct, because in front of me, a pink colored femme, slightly shorter in size, stood calmly with a kind smile on her face.

"Hi, I heard you're the new femme here?" She said in a sweet voice, taking a bow. "I'm Arcee, it's nice to meet you."

She was quite pleasant and I prepared myself for anything. I bowed in return, returning the smile, although not feeling in the mood to smile at all. "Goldstreak."

"You want me to show you around?" She inquired, jabbing her thumb to a direction behind her, a little eager to have some company. "I've been here for a couple of mega-cycles, so I know all the basic places."

It was better than nothing. I could at least get used to the new facility and its rooms, enhancing my coordination skills. "Why not?" I said lightly, walking side by side with Arcee as she slowly started to walk me out of the rec room, going to a part of the Academy I had not still explored.

"So when did you get here?" She lightly asked, trying to keep the conversation going and trying to get to know me. I did not mind, although I didn't want to share too much information. I felt like I shouldn't be as free with words as I used to be. Something in my mind just told me to talk normally, but not reveal anything. I was sure I could do it right.

"I got here today, with my team."

"Oh, those other mechs?"

I supposed she was talking about Hot Rod, Silvershot and the rest. "Yes." I gave a single nod as we walked out of the rec room, slowly, because we had no reason to hurry.

"Well, how old are you? You seem more mature than I am." She said a little shyly, but with good intentions. "That and you're taller."

"Almost seventeen millenia." I replied. "And you?"

"Fifteen millenia. So I was right, you were older."

"I am more mature." I corrected her. I certainly felt more mature now.

"Wouldn't that be the same thing?"

"Not necessarily." I said, thinking over the matter. But then I remembered. "I knew a mech that was younger than me by a millenia and he was more mature than I am now."

"How so?"

It was my first neighbor. His femme creator had deactivated because of a rust infection and he had to take care of his father for a long time. I tried getting Railgun to lend us some credits so that we could give him medication for his father, who had suffered from a rust infection as well, but Railgun would not let it happen. So Vectra and I would take our own credits sometimes and buy them energon, just enough so that they could live through the joor.

But I didn't want to disclose what had happened. I tried to keep it short, but perhaps not the most accurate. "He lost his creators and had to take care of himself." I simply replied, not going into details.

Keep it short and simple, Goldstreak.

"I see…" she said as we walked to another room and she opened the door. It was a large room that looked somewhat like a battling arena. "I was told this is where combat will be. Hand to hand with and without weapons." She closed the door, moving onto the second room which was near. "This is for the weapon training, accuracy, effectiveness and so on." She closed that door as well.

Conversely of these rooms, there was a large double door. "Where does this lead?" I turned to look at her, pointing towards the closed doors.

"That's the medical bay."

"I see why it's close to the weapon and combat training quarters."

"In case someone gets hurt and needs immediate assistance."

"Exactly." I agreed with her, giving a single nod. "What else have we got?"

"There's the superiors' offices and quarters."

"Their offices _are_ their quarters?" I asked as we moved deeper into the hallway, looking to the right where each of the doors had a large sign above them which stated which superior resided there.

"Yes, it's to make coordination easier."

"I see their quarters must be large."

"Wouldn't know, haven't been there yet." Yet?

"You planning to be?" I smirked as a perverse thought found its way into my head as she fell into her own trap. She immediately blushed, looking away and smiling embarrassingly.

"No, no, not in _that_ way!"

"Course not." I chuckled.

"Okay okay, let's move on, please?" she hurried with her walking, as if walking away from here would make a difference. "These are our quarters." She said, motioning to the furthest part of the main hallway. "Mine are all the way up front, right in the center. Where are you quarters?"

"I have no idea." I bluntly said. "There are no signs here?"

"None actually." She shook her head. "Well, I'm sure you'll find out somehow."

Slagging right I would. "Yeah." I gave the doors a searching look. There really weren't any signs that said which rooms belonged to whom. I guess I would learn them all with time. "Arcee, are we the only femmes here?"

"Now? Yeah. Just you and me." She nodded, a little sad. "There aren't any femmes fit for fighting in the war, so there's just you and me for now. I keep hoping some more would come, but only you've come in these past few mega-cycles that I've been here. Have you met any other femme that might join us?"

"No." I shook my head. "None." But we still continued until she finished the tour. We went all the way to the end of the hallway where all the quarters of the soldiers were and turned right, entering the refueling area. We didn't include Elita, although she was a femme as well, because she was not among the students at this Academy.

"Well, this is all I know, maybe there's more." She shrugged, smiling at me. She was silent for a while before she spoke up again. "You know, I think you and I are going to get along very nicely."

"You think?" I said, not particularly interested, but willing to give her a chance. I only wondered, based on what did she conclude this?

"Yeah, I mean, other than the gender thing, I think we have a lot in common."

"Where'd you get that?" I almost laughed, but tried hard to keep it in.

"Well, you just strike me as that kind of bot." Oh, I strike her.

Trying to keep the situation light, I continued talking to her as we walked back together, towards the exit. "So what are you good at? Maybe those are our… common things." I searched for the words.

"Well, I'm good in hand to hand and I'm pretty good at sharpshooting."

"Hand to hand is one thing we got the same." I noted out loud. Although I didn't dare say that I had never held a weapon in my hand. That would be embarrassing and degrading, seeing a younger bot than myself be a better wielder of a weapon. I wouldn't give her that.

"And shooting?"

She just had to ask, didn't she. "I'll make room for improvement." I simply replied.

"That's nice. See, I told you we had stuff in common."

"Sure did." I said as we finally exited the Academy and I saw my team quite near the entranceway, right where Arcee and I were standing. They noticed both me and her as they continued to walk up. "Let me introduce you to my friends." I said as we walked towards them, meeting halfway. "This is Hot Rod, Mirage, Cliffjumper, Silvershot and Bumblebee. Everyone, this is Arcee, the only other femme here."

"Nice to know Gold ain't alone." Cliffjumper lightly said, smiling charmingly at Arcee.

"She could get used to some femme company after us." Hot Rod said, giving her the sexy grin as Arcee faltered at it.

"This is my brother." I motioned towards Silvershot who only bowed in greeting. "And this is Bee." I pointed towards Bee, who was just a little bit shy, but I knew he wanted to hang around. He was sociable, but only when he was certain the bots he was hanging out with weren't corrupted.

"Thanks." Arcee said to me. "It's been really nice meeting you."

I inclined my head to the side only slightly, giving her a smile. "Likewise." I dipped my head in a little, showing respect. The more respect you show towards others, especially below your rank, the more respect you have for yourself and the more other bots will respect you for. This I learned and this I kept and went by.

"Goldstreak, we should head to quarters." Silver said, motioning with his head to go forward and into the Academy.

"What about the outside? I haven't been out."

"There isn't much to see. Only a couple of obstacles that needed running, walls that needed climbing, half walls that needed jumping…"

"Yeah, sounds like nothing interesting at all." I sarcastically said as Arcee and my team moved into the Academy and I didn't bother to look back after them. "I want to see."

"Have it your way. " he answered as we slowly made our way towards the obstacles and then he started talking again. "This is the polygon. We start here." He said as we walked over to the starting line. "Want to give it a try?" He challenged and gave me a challenging look to follow it.

"As if you have to ask." I smirked as I dashed in front of him, jumping over the half walls immediately and Silvershot wasn't far behind. I had to use my hands to get my body over them, it wasn't difficult. I was actually having fun. I just had to make sure I didn't slip or trip.

The next thing I had to do was to drop down to the ground and crawl through something that could only be described as mud.

I gave a hesitating look back at Silvershot, who dived past me straight into the mud, where he had to keep his head low as to not catch the barbed wire above him. As he dived in, the mud splashed over my frame as I groaned and hit the ground, crawling through the mud with the use of my elbows. It was difficult and required a lot of body swiftness and movement, something I hadn't considered when I dived in. Because the mud was dense in its natural form, I had to use more strength than I would have preferred.

As I got up and Silvershot was already in the lead, I jumped straight onto a rope that connected to the large metallic wall that I had to climb. It was a straight wall and Silvershot had used his feet on it, trying to pull himself up with the rope and walk on the wall at the same time. It had proved to be futile, seeing as his pedes kept sliding down the wall because of the liquid mud.

An idea came into my processor. I took the rope and started climbing solely on the rope. Yes, my hands and feet slid, but I managed to hold myself onto it as I climbed over and got to the top. I realized that there was a sort of ladder beneath me, but it connected to the other side, to the second wall, to be exact. I had to use the strength of my arms to get from one end to the other. It was like a cyber-monkey type of getting from one end to the other.

I had to make sure my hands didn't slip, otherwise it would be a long and painful way down. Not to mention extremely embarrassing.

I cleaned my hands on my thigh plates as quickly as I could as I saw that Silver was gaining in on me and I crouched, slipping my legs through the square holes of the ladder and holding the whole of my weight by my arms as I slowly got from one end to the other, moving rather slowly and with difficulty.

Unfortunately for me, Silvershot, using his muscles and agility, surpassed me, getting to the other end two astroseconds before me and I wouldn't tolerate it. I forced myself to speed up, feeling out of breath already. This was tiring and required a lot of energy to finish and I could only speculate on what was awaiting for me on the other end of the wall.

As I had reached the end, I was surprised to see a net that descended to another half wall, which was half of the size of this large wall I was currently standing on. But I managed to laugh as I saw Silvershot's leg slip through the net's holes and he entangled himself, trying to break free, but couldn't.

The net was a piece of energon cake for me, as all I had to do was coordinate my feet to not let them slip through the holes and I was alright. But from this half wall I had been standing now on, I saw metallic boxes in front of me, all arranged in a circular pattern that connected to the beginning of the polygon. Which could only mean that I had to jump from box to box.

So I did, I rushed and jumped until I had no more boxes to jump on and was left to run back to the polygon.

As I did a U-turn, I saw that Silvershot had managed to untangle himself and was slowly making his way towards me, jumping over the boxes. I sprinted until I saw another bunch of boxes, each being taller than the one before it, and it reminded a lot like giant stairs. It was a good exercise for the leg muscles and I could certainly feel the thigh muscles of mine pulsing with adrenaline, even after all of this exercising.

As I had reached the tallest and largest metallic box, which was the same size of the wall I had to climb on, cyber-monkey style, and it was quite large, there was an even larger hole in front of me. Surely, I wasn't supposed to go in there. Was I?

I glanced behind, seeing that Silver had been sprinting towards me. I quickly looked down and saw a net covering the hole. No, I definitely wasn't supposed to go down.

Then where was I supposed to go?

Luckily, the answer was just in front of me. I had to rush even faster and harder and jump further to reach the other box, the one that would surely lead me to the beginning of the polygon, I was sure of it. I took in a deep breath, cycling my air quickly to cool my systems as fast as possible.

So I took the leap of faith and gave it my best shot. I went to the beginning of the box and sprinted until I reached the end, then I jumped with all that I had in me.

I had barely caught onto the box, failing to repress a slight yelp as I crashed with my abdomen on the sharp edge of the box, the air from my tanks pushed out. I cringed as I brought myself up, looking back to see Silvershot ready to make the jump.

Go, go, go!

I had to keep myself motivated, so I jumped from box to box all the way down descending as I got to the last box, careful not to land badly and trying to breathe evenly and rid the pain from my frame. I sprinted to the beginning of the polygon, touching the half wall I had to jump over in the first place.

As Silvershot managed to finish the polygon, I knew I had already won. I brought my fists up and let a squeal of happiness erupt from me, allowing myself to be immature for once. "Victory!"

A large arm found its way around my neck, holding me in a chokehold immediately. The other arm was starting to give me a noogie. "Say what?" He mocked, pressing his fist harder into my head.

I twisted with a lot of power, somehow starting to push my helm into his abdomen as he bent over. I jumped at him as we rolled on the ground, play fighting. We punched, kicked, jabbed and whatnot, but nothing to seriously injure the other. "Just admit it, you lost." I said as I sat on his abdomen, pinning him to the ground. I was nothing if not the master of pinning people to walls or the ground.

"It wasn't a competition." He replied as he pushed me off gently and I laid on the ground next to him. I snorted out loud as he got up and offered me a hand to stand up.

"Sure it was." I said as he brought me up. "Don't deny it."

"Shut up." He sharply said, giving me a sharp look to follow his words.

I knew I had won. Victory on day one.

**Some of you may be wondering why there is mud in the Academy. It's not organic mud like our human, consistent of dirt, sand, water and whatever else you want it to be consisted of, this is inorganic, yet liquid mud. Basically, mud is the same thing here and there, just different in Cybertronian terms.**

**Written: **

**13.05.2014.**


	15. Where It All Began

**Chapter 15: Where It All Began**

_**Tomorrow…**_

After all of us had been settled, instructed and taken care of, the trainings began once more. We were told that now that the camp had been destroyed and that we were the only survivors from the camp that they could find, we had gotten our 'diplomas' or certificates early, whatever they were called. I didn't care, because now that Bluestreak and Springer couldn't be found, I was crushed. Perhaps I was too attached to them.

I pushed the thought aside. It has only been one mega-cycle. Perhaps they were yet to reach Springer's carrier. Or perhaps they really hadn't made it at all.

No.

I had to shove that thought away from my processor. I had other things at hand and if they really did survive, somebody would find them and they would return to us. That was the plan and that was going to happen.

"Gold, let's go." Silvershot said as he was about to leave our quarters. I stood up from the warm chair I was sitting on, warmed by my body's heat, and I walked behind him. There was a large difference between the camp and this Academy. For instance, the entrance to the quarters was much different. Here, we could put in our own codes for the quarters instead of having to carry around a key with us all the time. Besides, this was more secure. Keys could be lost and then everything inside the quarters would be lost. With a code, which you had to put to the forefront of your processor, everything was so much easier and simpler. But then again, everything had its risk. The lock could be hacked, but I think nobody really knew how to hack into the quarters.

We walked towards the exit of the Academy, for now, we had some physical training to do. We were soon outside as we greeted many of our future comrades. But here and now, we didn't have to wait for our superiors. The superiors were about five kliks early as they nodded to each and every one of us in greeting. I learned very quickly that things here revolved around respect.

After we had waited for the chronometer to strike 12 cycles, and with the almost late arrival of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, we began our training. It reminded a lot of the preliminary training we used to have at the camp, firstly running around and doing basic exercises, just warming up our systems. But then the superiors, namely Ironhide and Elita, raised the bar.

"I want everybody up in pairs!" Elita said as we all stopped working out and looked at her confusedly. I instantly glanced to Silvershot, who met my glance as I took a step towards him, already choosing him as my partner. "Now here's what we're gonna do…" she started as she walked towards us with an almost invisible smirk. Just because we couldn't see it didn't mean we couldn't hear it in her voice.

**XxXxXxXxX**

"Impossible."

"No way."

"I'm not doing that."

"It's time you younglings learned what teamwork is." Ironhide said, glancing at all of us. "And by your comments, I see I have a lot on my hands."

"Sir, how can we just _toss_ another over that wall?" Hot Rod said as we had just witnessed Elita literally _tossing_ Bumblebee over the largest wall. There was a wall on the other side of the Academy, where we were now, far away from the polygon I had been working out on with Silvershot just the day before. It seemed that this wall was even taller than the walls at the polygon. And Bee wasn't exactly light, regardless of his height, so Primus only knew how much strength Elita packed within her tiny frame. "I mean, we can barely toss Goldstreak." He pointed towards me.

"Have you tried tossing her?" Ironhide inquired as I felt awkward being the subject. I didn't like where this was going.

"No, sir."

"Now's your chance. Go." He said.

"Sir, I don't think it's really necessary…" I started, but he cut me off.

"Nonsense. Everybody line up, you are tossing your femme friend over that wall." He pointed towards the wall with his left hand.

As they were all lining up, I walked up to Ironhide but kept my voice low. "Sir, what if I don't land successfully on the other side? I don't even know what the point of this exercise is."

"Then you will learn through your mistakes. Now go, we don't have all mega-cycle." He said as I sighed silently. There was no getting around him and this exercise was stupid. The first mech that had to toss me to the other side had been Bumblebee, instead of Silvershot who I had chosen to be my partner. It didn't matter that Elita wanted us up in pairs. I was getting tossed over either way.

I stood in front of him as he intertwined his fingers and lowered his arms. My pede was supposed to go into the small loop of his intertwined fingers and then he would be using his strength to toss me over. I only prayed that I wasn't too heavy, because the last thing I wanted was to be mocked because of my weight and Bee being mocked because of his height, or the lack thereof. And it wasn't like I weighed a lot, but I didn't want to be mocked because of it.

"It's not that hard." Bee said.

"Yeah, Elita already tossed you over. How do you land?" I quickly asked him as both she and Ironhide were looking at us.

"It comes naturally." He replied. "Ready?"

"Yes, go!" I said as he immediately managed to toss me over the wall. I was extremely surprised when he managed to lift me up and as I surpassed the wall, the ground was a frightening sight.

Holy frag, how do I land?!

As I had passed the wall, I found my arms flailing around uncontrollably, trying to find a balance, but failing in doing so.

I repressed a yell as I hit the ground with my pedes, rolling on the ground like a battered toy because of a bad landing. Warnings on my HUD immediately screamed as the pain in my legs increased slowly, but my right leg joint was hurting so much more.

"Up." Ironhide's voice said almost immediately after I crashed.

"I think I broke something, sir." I groaned, not moving a muscle from the ground.

"No, all of your parts are with you. Well, except for a few screws, but that's normal."

"No, sir." I cringed. "I can't move my right pede."

He moved towards my right pede, taking it into his hands and examining it. His moves weren't cautious and he managed to bring more pain to me than necessary. I hissed as he twisted the pede too fast, too soon.

"Yes, it would seem this is a sprain." He said as if it was no big deal. "Up you get." he said nonchalantly, getting up from his crouched position.

I propped myself on my forearms, turning around so that I was lying on my stomach. I brought my knees from under me, trying to get up by putting all of my weight on the left leg, the one that wasn't sprained.

I walked with extreme difficulty back to where the mechs lined up, as I felt my joint almost being crushed into my pede, sinking deep into it. It wasn't that visible unless you wanted to take a good, detailed look of it, but from the distance it was inconspicuous. As inconspicuous as a very painful limp could be.

The next mech in line was Sideswipe, the silver mech whose paint has already been repaired. And by repaired I mean he was repainted. He met me with a smile, but I could do nothing but cringe as I walked up to him, standing in front of him. I put my hand on his shoulder for balance as I noticed in the corner of my optic that Elita and Ironhide had been discussing something. I breathed deeply as I tried to shove away the pain from my sprain.

Who got the fragging idea of tossing bots over walls anyway?

"Go." Elita said as we glanced towards her, noticing that Ironhide was no longer there standing with her. I turned towards Sideswipe again, still holding onto his shoulder for balance as I put my left pede into his palm, cringing when the horrid pain flashed through my body for putting pressure on the sprained right joint.

"Ready?" He said, looking into my optics.

"Yeah, go." I grimly said as a second later, his pushed me upwards with so much more strength that Bumblebee had in him. He managed to send me flying over the wall much higher than Bumblebee did. Again, I had no idea how to land.

Adrenaline rushed through my energon veins as I tried moving my arms around for balance, but I couldn't find one as yet again I found myself in freefall, going headfirst into the ground.

I repressed a yelp as I shut my optics right before impact, sprawling my arms in front of me, shielding my head.

But impact never came.

I had found myself lying in strong arms as I opened my optics. "You're not fit to do this yet." Ironhide said as he set me to the ground. "This exercise was too soon and you were not trained enough. You may watch the rest of the training or you may go to Ratchet. Choose."

"Ratchet, sir." I replied with my choice as I felt embarrassed and sick. How pathetic I must've looked like, crashing into the ground the first time and then almost crashing into it again. _It comes naturally_, my aft. Apparently it doesn't come like that in my nature.

"You know where his bay is. You are dismissed until the next mega-cycle." He replied as I nodded, walking away from my group, limping as I tried to walk as normally as possible towards the medical bay. It was situated in the main hallway, right across the combat room, but it still took a lot of time for my limping frame to walk over there. The trip had been painful and slow going, but least I didn't hear any comments about me being excused from training.

I knocked on the large double doors of the medical bay. They opened soon, revealing a befuddled Ratchet behind them. "Why are you knocking?" he narrowed his optics at me.

Why? "I supposed that was the way of making my arrival known?"

"You should just come in, no need to knock." He said as he let me limp through. "I see the problem is walking." he mused as I walked past him into the bay.

"Someone thought it was a good idea to toss a femme over a wall."

"On purpose?" he looked at me confusedly, motioning for me to sit on an empty medical berth as he walked over towards me. "I thought hurting Autobots was against the moral code. By your schedule, you should be in training." He said, checking a data pad to ensure my whereabouts.

"It is, but in training that code doesn't really exist." I said through gritted denta, trying to suppress the pain and irritation from my sprained joint.

"So how did this happen?" He said as the gently looked over my injured joint.

"Bad landing over the wall."

He nodded, as if my sentence had already confirmed his speculations. "This won't be pleasant, but it's the only way." He said as he made me straighten my leg. I nodded as I watched what he was going to do to my sprained joint, and then suddenly, it was like he pulled the joint from the pede, dislocating it.

I almost screamed in pain and while I could only repress a yell, but not a whimper, Ratchet had already managed to put the joint back into its place, finding a couple of screws in a box to fit in back to my frame, screwing them in with an instrument.

"Well, you took that better than expected." He mused as he screwed the screws into their place, most probably the screws that were replacing the broken and lost ones when I had crash landed, in the literal way.

"Courtesy of pain tolerance trainings."

"Well, this would be all." He said, motioning for me to get up from the berth. "You are free to go now."

"Is there something I owe you?" I said. He did a remarkable job on my sprained joint, as I walked with ease now.

"As in payment for my work?"

"Isn't that the way it goes?" I tilted my head to the side. There were many things that weren't exactly normal here.

He shook his head, but a small smile could be seen from his face plates. "Not here, youngling. My services are free of charge."

I nodded when he finished talking. "Thank you, Ratchet."

"Off you go." He dismissed me with a waving hand as I exited the medical bay, going to the refueling area to get some energon.

But when I had gotten there, I sure as pit wasn't expecting everyone to be there. When I entered the refueling area, all optics were on me. Did training end so soon? Or was I gone for too long? It seemed to me like it wasn't long at all.

I felt confined and I just wanted to get my energon and get out of there. I didn't even bother looking for Silvershot, although that would usually be what I did during refueling time. Still, I sometimes felt odd, even though I was with my friends. I had never considered myself an introvert, but solitude just seemed so appealing right now.

As I went over the dispensers, I noticed that the energon was also free of charge. No credits need be inserted, it was all free. At least the mechs here weren't greedy and there was plenty of energon for everyone. I wondered how they got a hold of it.

A sudden ping on my comlink told me that a message had been sent to me. From Sideswipe. He wanted me to come sit at the table he and his brother were at, _right now_. Ever since we had come to this Academy, all of us had been given codes to each others' comlinks so that we could ping or com anyone whenever we wanted. So now, he was using it to get my attention.

As I felt my tanks growl for energon, I quickly took a cube and took a gentle sip, turning around with the intention of going to my quarters. I wasn't up for hanging out now. I was in a mood for some solitude.

But what surprised me was the sudden form that was standing right behind me, towering over me actually, casting a shadow over my frame. I looked up slightly, seeing it had been a silver mech that was towering above me as I felt my back meet the energon dispenser. By the shape of his frame and size, I realized that it wasn't Silvershot.

"I thought you got my com."

"I did." I answered, trying to move away from being so close to him and the dispenser. "I was actually about to go to you-" I started a lie, but he beat me to it.

"Never mind that." he waved his hand in front of him, taking a step back. In his other hand, he was carrying a cube of energon. "My bro and I were watching you the other day. And today, too." Stalker alert? "And we figured you needed a repaint."

"I can't begin to tell you how wrong that is." I said, taking a sip of my cube and spotting Hot Rod not far from me. Maybe I could use him to lose Sideswipe? I did it sometimes to get away from the other cadets in the camp.

"How so?" he grinned, taking a sip as well, unconsciously mimicking my body language. "I see nothing wrong with it."

"Well first, we barely know each other. Then, I have no idea where'd you get the paint or how you'd apply it."

"Sunny and I have our ways." He replied.

"I thank you for the offer, but," I started walking towards Hot Rod. "I have to decline."

"Why?"

Didn't I just state that an astrosecond ago? "I don't know you well enough." I mean, he's supposed to go over my frame with a brush or paintbrush numerous times and I barely know him. I moved pass him.

He repressed a laugh and a deep chuckle emitted from his vocalizer instead. "Oh, you'll get to know us." He cockily said.

"Alright…" I said as I finally reached Hot Rod's table, sitting on a chair at it quickly and losing Sideswipe effectively. I glanced to him as he turned around to walk back to his table, my optics slowly descending their view from his broad shoulders to his rounded aft. I sighed in relief, not even bothering to look at who was present at the table. "Primus, he's just like you when we were at the camp." I rolled my optics, talking to Hot Rod, thinking of the times when he was too persistent.

"I wasn't that bad." He said, scrutinizing Sideswipe with his look secretly, bringing up his cube to his lips.

"Keep telling that to yourself." I said, taking a sip of my energon and relaxing into the chair. I was expecting Hot Rod to say something, even swing his arm around my shoulders as he always did, but instead, an odd silence settled. I looked up and around and noticed that I had directly sat at a table that was only occupied by Hot Rod and Arcee. "Sorry, I shouldn't have just sat here." I excused myself, already standing up. The only reason Hot Rod probably didn't shoo me away was because I was his friend and he liked my presence. I should have had more sense than this. He was having a private conversation with Arcee and I just had to jump in.

"No, it's okay, join us." Arcee said with a smile.

"That's alright." I shook my head. "I already have somewhere else to go." I politely said as I walked away from them, exiting the refueling area soon after. I wasn't interested in pointless talking about random subjects. I had to prepare myself for other trainings, I had data pads and electronic books to read, not to mention that I had to revise my geographical and historical knowledge. There was much to do.

As I got to my quarters soon, I typed in the code, getting inside. I had very much enjoyed the silence and peacefulness of the empty and dark quarters. Setting the lights bright enough to just light the way wherever I was going, I had grown to like my quarters being void of anyone. The calmness and silence soothed me, making it easy to breathe for once. It felt like a large relief.

As I walked through the room, I took a data pad that was recently left on the desk and turned it on. It was most probably a data pad pertaining to geography.

But it wasn't, at least, not from what I had perused. It had been a rank selector, so to say. I frowned in confusion as I dimmed the pad's brightness, reading over the data again. We were being given choices. I could choose training for scouts, warriors, various specialists, spies and so on.

So this was the question now.

I had to choose who I was going to be.

Easy choice, I mused as I sat on a nearby chair, relaxing. Scouting really wasn't in my 'nature', as Bumblebee would put it, and if I couldn't land like a normal bot from heights, then I wasn't cut out for scouting. Spying wasn't my thing either and training for being a weapons, special operations, tactical and so on specialist wasn't that appealing to me. I liked to have more than just one specialty, to try and be proficient in all ranks, and it would take stellar cycles to get to that level.

Besides, warrior did sound good. As I went over the details of the rank, I understood that it would include a lot of the aforementioned subjects, yet it was a subject and rank of its own. Perhaps I could try that out.

Seeing as this data pad was intended for me, obviously because my name was on it, and by pure luck I had taken my data pad, I started typing in the needed information.

Maybe something good would come out of this.

**Written:**

**18.05.2014.**


	16. Born From The Ashes

**Remember folks for this story, mate = boyfriend/girlfriend, sparkmate = husband/wife. Extra long chapter ahead and by the way, I referenced Cliffjumper's personality and voice from Transformers: Prime. Also, this is the longest chapter I have written _yet_, so I thank you all for reading this story and taking a liking to it. It more than 5.000 words long and almost double the size I usually write.**

**Chapter 16: Born From The Ashes**

_**One joor later…**_

No more standing back and no more standing aside. No more restraining and no more failure.

It is time that I found my specialty.

It's time I grew up.

**XxXxXxXxX**

"What's up with Goldstreak?"

"Yeah, all of a sudden she's just not up for hanging out."

"We should ask Silvershot."

"As if he's gonna tell us anything."

"And those twins?"

"What of them?"

"Do you think maybe they know what's going on with her?"

"She's barely talking to anybody. And even if she talked to them, I don't think they'd tell us what's going on with her."

"Well, I don't like seeing her all… Different. Introvertive. It's time we put a stop to it."

"How? She barely talks to us." Bumblebee slumped, holding his jaw in his hands as his forearms rested on the table in the refueling area, body posture slumped. "Besides, she's always… busy."

"Then we _get_ her to talk to us." Hot Rod said determinedly. "I ain't sitting here, wasting my time while my friend is having inner turmoils and doesn't know how to solve them."

"Maybe she chose this way." Cliffjumper offered, his voice sounding rather solemn. "I've seen that look in her optics. She's worried about Bluestreak."

The name hadn't been spoken in a little over a joor and it was met with an uncomfortable silence. "Still no sign of him or Springer being online." Hot Rod said, his voice slightly bellowing.

"I think that's what's bugging her." Bumblebee said again. "Maybe that's her way of dealing with stress?"

"Enough speculation." Hot Rod abruptly said, getting up off the chair, being the dominant leader he is. "I'll go have a chat with her and see why she's been ignoring us."

"Hold on, partner." Cliffjumper said, putting his servo on Hot Rod's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. "Let her do this on her own."

"She's been doing it for a joor."

"And what's wrong with that?" Cliff gave him a sharp look. "Let her be. She'll be herself once she recuperates."

"_If_ she recuperates."

"Stop that right now." Cliff's hold on his shoulder intensified, become a rough squeeze. "Don't go spreading slag about her, this is serious."

"You think I don't know that?" Hot Rod turned towards him as an argument was brewing. "Both were my friends even before she came along!"

"So what's the problem then? Leave her alone."

"I will do what I want."

"But is that what _she_ wants?" Cliff suddenly said, an unknown wise voice coming from him. "Friendship isn't consisted of one person, Rod. It's two. So ask yourself, what would she want?"

After a moment of hesitation, Rod calmed down, answering him in a somber voice, but not subliming. "To be left alone."

"So give her that. She'll appreciate it more than you barging into her quarters demanding answers to questions even she doesn't know how to answer."

"What, you became a wise guy all of a sudden?" Hot Rod narrowed his eyes at him, challenging, as the rest of the bots just glanced from him to Cliffjumper.

Cliff's hands rose in defense, letting go of the hold on Rod's shoulder. "I'm just saying stuff from personal experience, you shouldn't be so sanguine about the convo going good. But hey, it's your choice, do what you want." With that, he then left the refueling area and silence prevailed again, each Cybertronian thinking about what to do with their slowly becoming introvertive friend.

Bee kept glancing to Hot Rod, just trying to make sense of the whole situation. This wasn't an easy situation and all of them were at least slightly worried for their good femme friend. Hot Rod had been facing an inner turmoil himself now. He finally decided. "I'll go talk to her."

And with that, he left.

**XxXxXxXxX**

These last couple of mega-cycles were very hard for me. It didn't have anything to do with Silvershot or with my friends. It had to do with my creators. Their parts of the bond were gone, leaving a deep void in my spark, one that engulfed me every time I would think about them. And even if I didn't think about them, there was a thrumming pain that would not leave. I knew Silvershot was feeling it too, but he wasn't looking for strength in my part of the bond. We were going solo.

It was almost like he was willing to let me grow independent, to let me take care of the pain in my own way. Silver would be gone for cycles, telling me he was going on patrols and monitor and guard duty, but I didn't believe a word of it. I was alone.

And to think it had happened overnight. Silvershot and I had been roughly shaken up from recharge with a horrid pain in our sparks. I didn't remember my spark _ever hurting, _but that night, it hurt so badly. We were clenching our chest plates from the pain, but then it subsided, lessening with every passing cycle. There was no doubt about it. Our creators were offline.

What hurt me most was that my mother, my best friend, was gone. I could never have another and I would never _want_ another. She was the only person I could truly confide in.

But I supposed Silvershot was taking care of the stress in his own way, by occupying his processor with work, at times tedious, but I? I had nothing to do here. I would train, I would revise my knowledge, I would become boring around Sideswipe, who wanted to have fun, but I could never tell him of my loss. Yes, he and his brother were friends, but I didn't feel that close to them.

Usually, I found myself staring at the ceiling from my berth, thinking that the pain would lessen with every passing mega-cycle, but it didn't lessen by much. I had nobody to tell my worries to, nobody I could completely confide in. Silver was gone, Hot Rod had his attention on the other femme and with the rest I wasn't too close. On one occasion, I wanted to tell Sides and his brother what was bothering me when they caught me staring into space for far too long.

But I couldn't bring myself to do it, when they asked me what was with me. My throat tightened around itself, leaving me speechless and on the verge of tears. I had to wave them away, excusing myself from our nightly walks or drives and just rush to my quarters to console myself. I always thought I would cry in my quarters, but whenever I reached them, the tears would never come. And whenever I thought the pain lessened, it came back tenfold.

Bots don't know how much it hurts to lose a loved one. I had to learn the hard way, at the age of almost seventeen millenia.

But every mega-cycle was a new one, and every time the pain subsided, even by just a little. I would rarely see Silvershot, but I had grown to be alright with that.

A ping on my HUD told me that it was time for combat training with weapons. Joy.

**XxXxXxXxX**

"That's not how you do it."

"Yeah, you have to bend your wrist each time you swing the sword."

I tried swinging the sword from my wrist again, but it just didn't work. "Could you show me again?" I asked him.

Sideswipe took the dummy sword from my hand, his fingers purposely touching mine for a lingering moment. My sparkbeat sped slightly at the touch and he smirked when he managed to get a smile on my face plates. "Okay, just hold it like this. Here, take the other." He said as he handed me the other dummy sword. These weren't sharp and were practically useless, we just used them for training and understanding the techniques. "Now, hold it like this." He said, holding the sword in a horizontal position. "And stand beside me."

I did as told and mimicked his body movements. He started explaining to me how to twirl the sword from my wrist without moving my frame at all. I couldn't help but glance at how he was expertly holding the sword, the muscles in his arm outlined as his position looked near perfect. "The key is to have your wrist loose. So don't tighten your servo around the sword, that's the opposite of what you're supposed to be doing."

"Like this?" I said as I loosened my grip in the sword, but still held it in the same position as he did.

"Exactly like that. Now, let's start from left to right." He said as he swung the sword from left to right, doing a 180 degree turn that reminded a lot of the way Cybertron's moons rose and set, demonstrating how it should be done. "Now you try." I mimicked his movement, as it was easier to do it this time, but it still wasn't quite it. "Again." He said as I twirled it once more. "Loosen the grip." He instructed, his deep voice settling into my audios. I loosened the grip as much as I could and twirled the sword, doing a full 360 degree swoop and it felt so _natural._ "There, you got it!" He said as he put his servo on my shoulder.

"Thanks." I said with a smile. "I think this is the last of the training for today." I said as I threw the dummy sword to Sunstreaker who caught it without effort and threw it on a pile of other dummy swords.

"You wanna hang out with us? We aren't doing anything tonight." Sideswipe offered. Well I did take a liking towards them during this one joor we have known each other.

"We were going for a drive." Sunstreaker said as he walked up towards us.

"I don't know… I still have to revise my history knowledge…" I somberly said, looking down and trying to think of another excuse. I didn't really have to revise my history knowledge. I did that two mega-cycles ago, yet the solitude of my quarters had become oddly pleasant and without doubt has it become my comfort zone. But life begins when you get out of your comfort zone...

"Nah, you can do that later." Sideswipe casually said as he swung his arms over my shoulders, an action Hot Rod had stopped doing in a while. I missed it, the warmth of another's frame, the feeling of acceptance and not to mention, finally a normal conversation. Without thinking, I felt my frame press against his in acceptance of the gesture. I didn't know whether it was because I needed something that reminded of a hug or was it because I missed the gesture, but after the image of Fireblaster made its way into my processor and imagining him instead of Sideswipe, holding me around the shoulders, I scurried away, forcing myself not to shiver from the thought. "It'll be fun, I promise."

I decided it would be good to go hang around with them. If at first it doesn't succeed, I don't have to hang out with them anymore, simple as that. "Okay, I'm going." I said. "But wait, didn't Sunstreaker say you were going for a drive?" I looked towards his twin.

"Did he?" Sideswipe said, turning his head towards the golden colored mech.

"It wouldn't matter anyway. It's not like we can drive anywhere." He crossed his arms as he replied.

"Then we'll just go… somewhere. We're in a fragging clearing, there's got to be someplace we can hang around in?"

I smirked, my curious and adventurous side suddenly taking the better part of me. What better way of finding out if there was something miraculous on the outskirts of the Academy if not going straight to the borders? I hadn't been using my alt in a while and I sure did miss driving.

"Only one way to find out." I said, but I looked at Sunstreaker weirdly, because he and I said it at the _same_ time. He gave me a mischievous look as I chuckled in return.

"Whoa, now that's creepy even when Sunny and I do it." Sideswipe said as his arm retracted from my shoulders.

"What have I told you about calling me that?" Sunstreaker suddenly angered, glaring at his brother as if he had just insulted their mother.

"To not to."

"And?"

"Sorry."

Sunny grunted in victory, so to say, as if he was glad that he trained Sideswipe to apologize whenever he would call him that dreaded femme-like nickname.

After a silence that lasted very shortly, Sideswipe turned towards me with a smile. "Shall we?"

I nodded wordlessly walking beside him as Sunstreaker lead the way to the exit.

I just couldn't shake the feeling of being watched and that was bothering me, just a little.

**XxXxXxXxX**

"I knew there was something up with those two."

"Rod, they're hardly the first mechs that ever smiled at her. Well, at least one of them is."

"It's the smiling _back_ part that gets me."

"She's not exactly your mate." Bee said as they hid behind a wall, watching Goldstreak as she walked alongside Sideswipe to Primus knew where. "It's not like you can control her. If they want to hug her that should be okay."

"I don't want to control her, Bee, but I just don't get why she won't hang out with us?"

"I'm sure she'll come around. Now come on, we've got tactical training with Prowl now." Bee said as he moved away from the wall, almost entering the hallway, but stopped in doing so when he saw that Hot Rod wasn't moving from his position. "Hot Rod?"

"Wouldn't that mean she has to come with us to the tactical now?"

"Haven't you heard? She has a different schedule."

"Since when?" He turned his head towards the small yellow and black colored bot, his expression a mixture of confusion and scrutiny.

"Since a joor ago, when we chose our ranks."

"So what, that makes her special now?" Hot Rod's words were oddly tainted with jealousy as both of the bots walked towards the tactical room, after Bumblebee managed to pry him off the wall.

"Rod, you've been acting strange lately…" Bee confessed, sending him a tentative glance from below.

Hot Rod didn't answer him, instead he was focused on Goldstreak and her unusual behavior. Ever since he had told her that he started liking Arcee, she grew distant from him. But then Cliff had the big idea of her just being somber over not knowing whether Bluestreak and Springer were online or not. But then again, there could be many more things, things she had never even told him, such as mysteries, even secrets.

She was a femme full of mystery, he mused. For a moment he thought it had been the fact that he liked Arcee, and if he were honest with himself, he liked Arcee more than he did Goldstreak. But Goldstreak never wanted to be mated with him. Did she?

There would be only one way to find out and he would have to be direct about it.

**XxXxXxXxX**

"What kind of an alt is _that?_"

"What?" I asked from my alt. "It's a normal alt."

"It looks… slow."

"It's not exactly designed for speed." I confessed.

For a split astrosecond, I saw Sunstreaker roll his optics slightly as he started transforming himself into a golden, sleek and sharp alt. Certainly much better looking than mine. "Get a good look of speed." He purred as he slowly encircled me, his engine purring all around me. And I did get a good look of him. I really liked what I saw. I had a passion for alt modes, especially ground rollers and Sunstreaker's alt was one off. Was it possible that he and his twin were so wealthy?

Sideswipe suddenly jumped on his arms, transforming to the ground. Such a showoff. He revved his engine in temptation. "Wanna race?"

"Like you have to ask." Sunstreaker replied as he was already racing and it didn't matter against who, because I hadn't even had a chance to reply and he was already up and away from us, getting further and further with each passing astrosecond, the roar of his engine resounding through the clearing. I wouldn't be surprised if Decepticons heard him.

"I'm up for a normal drive." I said as I started driving alongside Sideswipe to where Sunstreaker had been driving off. "It's not like I can exactly go fast."

"Have you even tried?" he said, tempting.

"Not really." I honestly said. I wasn't a speed junkie, but seeing Sunny dash off like that made me want to try going fast and break the speed limit.

"Then how do you know you aren't fast if you've never tried driving fast?"

"That's the first smart thing I heard from you all mega-cycle."

"Come on, I'm not _that_ bad."

I chuckled in return. "Let's pick up some speed, I want to try speeding."

"Oho, we got a bad femme here, don't we? You wanna break the rules?" I could hear the smirk and grin his voice. "That's hot."

If I had been in my bipedal form, I certainly would have blushed. Thankfully I wasn't and I pushed my engine harder to pick up some speed. I wanted to retort with something like 'not as hot as you', but I restrained myself from doing so. I couldn't lie, he and his brother, although looking alike, had incredible differences, but each was incredibly beautiful to look at.

I almost felt poor as a peasant near them, like an Empty, because of my alt and paint, or lack of the latter. As both Cybertron's moons danced around Cybertron ever so slowly in the dark and starry sky, I couldn't help but notice how Sideswipe's paint shone in the moonlight, gently yet beautifully scintillating with tiny specs of white and gray, courtesy of the reflection. We soon caught up to Sunstreaker, who was standing near a crater. A large crater in the middle of a clearing. We stopped beside him. "What's this?" I asked as I directed my headlights towards the crater. I couldn't see the end of it.

"Who cares." Sunstreaker said.

"There's nothing nice to see here anyway." Sideswipe added, slowly backtracking and moving to investigate the end of the clearing until the swamp again surrounded us.

"I suggest we just have a normal drive?" I offered.

"Normal? With us?" Sideswipe almost laughed, but agreed with me as soon, I was driving at a steady and slow pace in the middle of him and his brother. "Oh, you've yet to get to know us."

"I look forward to it." I said as I tried to find a topic to start a casual conversation with. "So, how have you heard of the Academy?"

"Well, Sunny and I were in Vos for a little while, just enjoying our time there and we overheard something like war coming up. So we headed here."

"Just like that?" He made it sound so easy.

"It wasn't like Vos was anything special. It got destroyed when Tarn's photon missile reached it." Sunstreaker said. "Well, when both the missiles reached each city."

"Yes, I've studied that." I replied. "It wasn't easy, I presume."

"There wasn't anything attaching us to Vos, and we were actually relieved when we left." Sunstreaker said.

"Yeah, because if we had stayed there, then we would've been deactivated and we wouldn't have met such a gorgeous femme as you."

"Sideswipe, please." I could almost feel myself blushing through the alt. "Tell me more about you guys. You're the first twins I have ever met in my entire life."

"We're one of a kind." Sunstreaker said proudly.

"Yeah, well, what do you want to know? 'Cause Sunny and I-"

"Sideswipe." Sunstreaker cut him off sharply.

"Sorry, sorry, because _Sunstreaker_ and I haven't met a femme warrior before, so we're interested in getting to know you, too."

On a corner, all three of us turned, continuing to drive slowly, our tires gently and soundlessly rolling on the ground. "Well, what to say?" I shyly offered. "I was created in Praxus..."

That made them stop in their tracks, their tires screeching over the metal on the ground. "You're Praxian?" Sunstreaker transformed, his brother and I following suit, an odd tinge of surprise in his voice. Sunny and his twin were only a helm taller than me. "I thought the only surviving Praxian was that minibot. The frag was his name... Bluestreak?"

I gaped at him, my optics immediately widening as my spark raced. "Bluestreak? He's alive? How do you know that?"

"You know him?" Sunstreaker asked, as I noticed what a beautiful shade of blue his optics were in the night sky.

"Is he alive?" I looked at him with almost pleading optics.

"Yes, he's fine. On his way here, actually."

I sighed in relief. But wait, what if he's lying? "How do you know this?" I asked him, looking from him to his brother. But then again, what if he wasn't lying? Perhaps he was telling the truth, otherwise how would he know Bluestreak's name?

"We have contacts." Sideswipe said. "Why, does he mean anything to you?"

"He's my friend." I said. But then something snapped in my processor. "And Springer? Were there any news about Springer?"

"Who's Springer?" Sunstreaker inquired.

"We went to the Autobot camp together." I replied. "And he stayed in Praxus with Bluestreak. Tell me he survived."

"I don't know that." He shook his head.

A somber silence greeted us as I lowered my helm, taking a few steps away from them, cycling air through my systems. I was well aware of the searching looks they were giving me, but I couldn't have cared less about those, because right now I was caught in the turmoil of not knowing whether Springer had been alive or not. He was one of the rare triplechangers. Maybe that would make it clear who he was and narrow down the search for him?

"He was a triplechanger. You sure you haven't heard anything about a triplechanger?" I turned towards them again.

"Nothing." Sideswipe replied, but then quickly changed the subject, expertly taking away the tenseness of the atmosphere. It had become easier to breathe when the subject was gone, taken away rather swiftly. "But wait, you're really Praxian?" he asked again, his voice rather innocent and naive sounding. I nodded in return. "That's just so rare…" He trailed off, but looked at me in the optics as a tingling feeling found its way into my stomach when the look lasted more than a few astroseconds.

To answer his question, I knew a lot of Praxians, so I didn't consider it to be rare. "Why would that be rare?" I asked both them.

"You don't know?" Sideswipe said, his voice losing its innocence, replaced by a rather disbelieving and somber tone. I shook my head, my brow plates furrowing with confusion as a sickening feeling was slowly finding its way into my abdomen, the tense atmosphere returning just as quickly as it had been taken away. "_Only_ Bluestreak survived the attack in Praxus."

_Only?_

But that would mean…

"Oh no..." I found myself say, as my right hand instinctively grabbed my head, a splitting headache findings its way to the core of my processor. I had felt my helm become dizzy and that my body lightly swayed. How could he be the sole survivor? That would mean there were so many deaths, so many lost lives… and that _only_ Bluestreak survived? Why weren't we told? And Springer is really deactivated if the story is true?

No, no, no, this can't be happening.

"You alright? You look kinda pale." Sideswipe said, tilting his head to the side as his hands held me by the forearms.

"I need to sit…" I said as I almost felt like purging my tanks out. Springer couldn't have been dead… and Praxus… completely destroyed? That's why it hurt so bad... Vectra and Railgun died in the destruction.

I found myself losing control over my body and I quickly crouched to the ground, both the twins crouching as well as Sideswipe didn't release his hold on me.

"Let's get her some energon, she's most likely just shocked." I heard him say as I felt his grip tighten on my forearm, each brother holding my arm, standing beside me as they were leading me into the Academy at a quick pace and stopping when they got to the doors of the medical bay. "You think she needs a medic?" Sideswipe asked his brother.

"Better safe than sorry, Sides." Sunstreaker replied as they led me through the doors, where the sitting form of Ratchet behind a desk looked up at us.

"What is going on here?"

"She needs energon."

"You have a refueling area for that."

"Not that kind of energon." Sideswipe said. "Could you just check her over? She's not feeling so hot."

"Give me the details." Ratchet said as he unsubspaced a scanner and set me on a berth, making me lay on it. I had felt so sick, sick to my core because of the dreadful news I had just received. Springer didn't survive... only Bluestreak, of the whole of Praxus, only _one_ mech survived.

"We were driving and she got news that some of her Praxian friends didn't survive the attack and she got pale in her plating. Dizzy too, she was almost swinging from one side to the other while standing." Sideswipe explained.

As Ratchet's scanner beeped, indicating that it finished scanning, Ratchet replied. "She had just gotten overexcited over the matter. She should refuel and go to recharge. Do you want to recharge here, Goldstreak?" he asked me.

I shook my head, sitting up. I felt my vocalizer tightening itself slowly and painfully, as even an action like cycling air had been a difficulty. It was like my systems were stalling. After Ratchet gave me a cube of medical medium grade energon to boost my systems, I got up off the berth, quietly thanking him and the twins and bidding them goodbye rather quickly.

I couldn't believe I had lost Springer. And nobody had told me. Were the superiors keeping it all a secret?

I went to my quarters, typing in the code and getting inside. Silvershot was already in his berth, recharging peacefully. I sighed at the sight of his peaceful recharging position. If only he knew.

But then I started to ask myself questions. What if they just made it all up? If they were wrong and just said it to shake me? No, they wouldn't do that, they aren't sadists. At least, I hoped they weren't, I didn't know them well enough to confirm. But then how would Sunstreaker know who Bluestreak was? And the fact that he described him as a minibot, other than the fact that it would be a little insulting to him, but it didn't rival with his size. He was as tall as Bumblebee, which was rather short anyway.

So why didn't anyone inform us of the attack? Were there more cities destroyed? Was that the reason why there were no new recruits in this past joor, since we got here?

There could be too many questions and too many alternate questions that I couldn't have the answers to. Right now, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were my main source of information and I wouldn't disclose the kind of information they were sharing with me with anyone. If it were public, everybody else would know. But they didn't, which meant that this was confidential. Which made me wonder why they had told _me_. Was it simply because I was Praxian or was there something more to it?

I had felt so wrong about not telling Hot Rod, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper and the rest about Springer's deactivation. But I supposed they would be learning of it eventually. Sunstreaker said Bluestreak was coming here, right? Perhaps then they would receive the news.

I was glad that at least one of them came back from Praxus, for it could have been worse. Much, much worse.

**There will be a lot of contradicting thoughts and mixed feelings in this story... I can't wait to show you more. Sometimes, if you put yourself into the shoes of certain characters in this story, you will see how it all makes sense and how everybody has their own innermost problems and moments of self doubt. **

**Written:**

**19.05.2014.**


	17. Love Has To Start Somewhere

**Chapter 17: Love Has To Start Somewhere**

The mega-cycle after, everything seemed alright. But I had felt different.

I think it had something to do with Arcee. Don't get me wrong, we weren't arguing or fighting or any of the sort. If anything, we weren't even speaking. But then again, I wasn't speaking for a long while with my team. I had been focused on gaining essential skills that my teammates wouldn't be having, skills that they wouldn't be needing. I had my rank as they had theirs and after all, each attended to their own.

But for what I thought, although I could have been wrong, I had started to feel as if Arcee was slowly replacing me. I often found her sitting at my chair on the table in the refueling area, laughing and talking casually with my gang. Not that I minded, I was glad that the femme actually found someone to talk with and had fallen into the good crowd.

It still troubled me that perhaps she _was_ indeed starting to replace me. I was thinking of doing something about it, but what? I wouldn't push her out, that would be wrong and completely unmoral. She had friends and I didn't even want to think about taking them away. Primus knew it was hard when you lost a friend, but losing a friend to a fall out or because of another was more painful than losing a friend to death. At least in death you knew they were at peace and you knew where they were. With the living, the situation was quite different.

Another thing that not only I had noticed, but Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had too, was that Hot Rod and Arcee were spending a lot of time together. Always sitting together at refuels, walking and laughing on breaks and so on. And me? I was trying to get some skills from the twins, because they were excellent swordsmen and were so much more fun to hang out. Outings with them were never boring and we never ran out of topics to talk about.

Such as right now, we had been hanging out in my quarters and with Silvershot out doing whatever he was doing, we had the quarters all to ourselves. We turned on the TV screen as I had brought the energon and we sat on the couch in front of the screen, me being in the middle and having to constantly turn my head whenever the two spoke to me.

"Okay, okay, okay, so he's wrong, don't argue!" Sideswipe clasped his hands around his audios, trying to repress the yells Sunstreaker and I had been throwing on each other.

"I am _not_ going to have my frame painted in pink! If anything, I'd like it blue!"

"I am not wrong and pink is for a femme because it's a femme color!"

"Arcee has pink!" I bellowed. "I don't want to look like Arcee!"

"What's wrong with Arcee?" Sideswipe suddenly said.

"Nothing, I just don't want that paint scheme." I crossed my arms and scooted one seat away from Sunstreaker, but I kept on glaring at him as I put my legs over the couch.

"Okay, she doesn't want it, you got something else bro?" Sideswipe said, getting up and venting hot air from his tanks. "I can't stand you two arguing." He groaned.

"We wouldn't be arguing if she was cooperative."

"Me? Sides, we wouldn't be arguing if he would only acknowledge my opinion." I sent a glare Sunstreaker's way, which he easily returned.

"Sunny…" He sounded exasperated. "Let's just listen to her."

"I don't want pink because it's already taken."

"Then what color do you want? Blue?" Sunstreaker offered, exasperated himself.

"Finally, you listened to what I had to say." I sighed out, feeling relieved. "But no, I don't want blue."

"Then what color do you want?"

"I was thinking… gold." I said.

"No." Sunstreaker quickly said. "Not gold."

"Why not?" I inquired.

"It's my color."

"It matches my designation."

"Your designation has nothing to do with your paint scheme." I gave him a dubious look.

"Okay so let me get this straight. Bluestreak is miraculously _blue_, without his designation having _anything_ to do with it. You are golden, because _Suns_ usually don't emit _golden_ rays. Chromia has parts made of _chrome_ for no reason apparent." I sarcastically stated, before turning serious once more. "And I should be _golden_ colored too, because I am _Gold_streak."

"No, no and no. Gold is my color and I don't want to discuss this any further."

"You said you'd give me a paint job in any paint I wanted."

"Not gold."

"Yes gold."

"No, Gold."

"Yes, Sunshine."

"Stop that."

"You started it."

"And I'm finishing it."

"Stop!" Sideswipe yelled, his optics wide as he clenched his head. "I can't take this anymore!"

"Then take a walk." Sunny and I said in unison. "Will you stop doing that?" I sent him a glare.

"Doing what?"

"Mimicking me."

"_You_ were mimicking _me_."

"As if I have something to mimic." I snorted.

"Get a load of this then." He said, bringing up his arm and flexing the strong bicep. I couldn't argue, the muscle was there.

"I'm not even gonna bother." I turned my head away.

"Good, 'cause I'm out of here." He said as he stood up. "Come on, Sides."

"Nah, I'm staying."

"Why?"

"I like hanging out with her." I smiled slightly at the sentence. "You go, I'll catch up with you later."

Sunny nodded to him once as he didn't even cast me a glance. I rolled my eyes. He was such a bother anyway. "Sit, Sides." I said as I brought my knees close to me so that half of the couch could be occupied by him. "It's the third time he's left like this." I said, relaxing into the couch, looking into his optics from behind my knees, which I had to lower to get a good look of him. But as I lowered my knees, meaning that I had to spread my legs further a little, I touched his pedes. He didn't bother to move them, so I just assumed he was comfortable with it and put my pedes over his. He didn't complain, so I went with the move. I was leaning on the armrest on one side of the couch and his position was likewise on the other end.

"Why do you two always fight?"

"We don't fight, we just have contrasting opinions."

"On everything?"

"Most things." I shrugged. "And frankly, I don't care. If he wants to go, he has every right to leave. The door is there and I'm not stopping him." I crossed my arms once more.

"Hey now, I'm not attacking you or anything, so don't worry. Sure, if he wants to leave, he'll leave."

"And he left three times already. Are you sure he doesn't have some kind of communication issue?"

"Nah, he's just… you know how older brothers are." He gently said, his voice relaxing as he quieted down. He played the 'sweet and caring' card, giving me a soft smile.

"Yeah. They won't let you live." I huffed.

"Something along the lines." He chuckled. "But they care about us a lot and they have to take care of us. As a younger sibling, you'd know, right?"

I nodded in agreement. "The older ones bear the weight of the world on their shoulders."

"Yeah… and the weight of our world, with all our problems and all the good and bad things."

I hummed in agreement, nodding unconsciously. My HUD popped a notification, indicating that it was time I went to recharge. Perhaps Silvershot would come later this evening. Maybe he went on an extra training or something or the other. "Well, Sides, I'm kinda tired." I said, moving my legs from his and sitting up. "I'm gonna go recharge now, so I'll see you tomorrow?" I offered with a sincere smile.

He understood what I meant and he stood up alongside me. "Try not to argue with him tomorrow?"

"You know it's not my fault. He's the one who starts the fights all the time."

"It's you who contradicts his opinion."

"I have the right to express my own."

"I know you do, but try to keep it friendly, eh? I can't listen to him all night long going on about how you annoyed him."

I didn't know what to be more surprised of. The fact that I annoyed him or the fact that he actually talks about me. "I annoy him?"

"Not like that, I mean, he's more agitated about the fact that he knows a great femme that he can't subdue. Someone who is very strong in the spark and independent."

"Is that so?" I straightened my back and crossed my arms across my chest. "So what does he do to femmes that he _can _subdue to his wishes?"

"Well, ask him that." He said with a smile, slowly heading for the door. I followed him to it.

"It's a rather delicate subject, don't you think?"

"Well, if you really want to know, what other way of getting your answer unless asking directly for it?"

I know another way. "Asking through his charming younger brother." I said, purposely adding 'charming' so that I could easily break the ice, taking a step closer to him. I wasn't born yesterday. Tell the people what they want to hear and you'll get what you want to hear from them, even if you have to make a few moves while at it.

"I'd say through his better looking twin brother." He cockily added, straightening up and grinning to himself.

"Have it your way." I said, retracting to my normal self. I wasn't getting the answer tonight, although now I knew how to feed his ego. "Well, Sides, see you tomorrow. And don't forget to tell Sunny to cool off. I can't deal with him all angry in the morning trainings."

"Trust me, neither can I." He said as we both chuckled. He suddenly took a large step towards me and before I could react, I found him kissing me on the cheek. "Recharge well, Gold!" He merrily said, walking out of the quarters with a large grin on his face. As he closed the door, only the occasional chatter and blabbing from the TV could be heard as other than that, I was trying to process what he just did.

Did he just kiss me?

I touched my cheek, which was piping hot from the sudden, yet soft touch. No, no, I can't have feelings for him. Mechs are revolting beings. Just look at what Fireblaster did to me. He was a mech. And even though now he is offline, it still isn't bringing my spark any condolence. Frag that two-bit glitch to the Pit.

I shoved the angry thoughts aside, thinking of how tomorrow I had to deal with a moody Sunstreaker. But Sunstreaker's moods could at least be soothsaid. Most of the time. Sideswipe was a completely different bot. He was extremely mercurial, but there was never a day that I hadn't seen him without a smile on his face plates. I couldn't say the same for Sunstreaker. The mech seemed morose, but I was okay with who he was. Pit, you can't change someone just because _you_ don't like how they're behaving. If it's really wrong, someone they care about will point it out and perhaps cause the person to change in behavior.

What am I even thinking about anyway? It's getting late and I should be recharging. Frag, I was building up this facade, this exterior because of which bots think I'm confident, but they don't know my innermost doubts and fears. I was so weak on the inside and I needed to fix that.

As I got up on my berth, I dimmed the lights and turned off the TV, doing it all wirelessly. I closed my optics, thinking about Sunstreaker's words. So what if he has a golden paint job? I didn't have to have one of the same hue. Perhaps darker by a few tinges, but that was it. And why did he and I sometimes say the exact same things at the exact same time? It was weird when he and his brother did it, considering they were twins, but this was just out of this world.

But I couldn't help but think how gorgeous he was. He and his brother. I mean, I did like both of them, but not in the romantic way. Sunstreaker had that strong jaw, stubborn chin and beautiful nasal ridge, not to mention his blue optics that were deep with mystery and secrets he buried deep inside and wouldn't let anyone through to reach them. The way he always had a retort to my every word and how he would stand his ground until Sideswipe would separate us.

No, no, I can't think of him like that.

But then again, it's my imagination, so I can do whatever I want, right?

And with that, I took a deep breath and settled myself into the flat berth once more, letting my mind wander and create thoughts I never would have dreamed of making.

**Written:**

**19.05.2014.**


	18. Only Just A Dream

**Even though this is already chapter 18, I have to tell you that this story is going to be a _very_ **_**long**_** one. The goal is to reach 100 chapters and I know I did it once before, I'll try to do it again, perhaps make an even longer story. Let's hope I can! Longer chapter ahead because I'm on a roll!**

**Chapter 18: Only Just A Dream**

"Come at me."

"Sunny?"

"We haven't got all mega-cycle." He said as he got into a fighting stance. We were in a gray colored room, clearly the combat quarters we were always training in. I was supposed to fight him as we were alone in the quarters.

Oh well, here we go then.

I pounced at him as he moved to the side, dodging my attack. I saw the ground coming closer and bent my back and head, doing a somersault and landing on my legs, standing and turning around immediately, my sensors sharp. "I see how you couldn't defend yourself from Fireblaster. You can't even attack properly." He mocked.

How the frag does he know that?

"How do you know that? I never told you that!"

"I know everything." He smirked, pouncing at me with incredible speed and agility, managing to land right on me as my back hit the ground, but oddly I felt no pain. "You were so weak, so puny and so fragile."

"Don't get me started, Sunny, I'm not in the mood." I said from beneath him.

"And you were so helpless, so defenseless. What, you thought someone was gonna be there for you? Someone to help you? Like, Hot Rod for instance?" He growled as I punched him in the chin swiftly, making him fall back as I got up quickly.

"Stop that right now!" I bellowed. "Don't tempt me!"

"Oh, but there's more, isn't there, Goldstreak?" He continued to mock, getting up and wiping his lip with the back of his hand.

"I don't want to hurt you, Sunstreaker, but whatever you're doing, you've got to stop this right now." I said. Then I sighed and dropped the battle stance. "I don't want to fight you and I don't want to do this."

"You think Fireblaster was going to listen to what you wanted?" That immediately brought up a fire of hate inside of me. How dare he speak of that?

"You're making me really angry, you idiot." I bellowed once more, getting into a fighting stance.

"You wanna work off the anger? I'm game." He tempted, his optics narrowing at me. "How sad that you lost your dear friend Springer last joor. Pathetic cretin couldn't even defend himself." He irritated and I was beyond pissed off.

"You watch that dirty mouth of yours or you'll regret ever having one!" I roared, sprinting towards him and scraping his chest plates deeply as I tried to scratch and tear apart his chest.

"But it could have been worse, right? It still could be." He said, talking about Praxus and the other cities while managing to shove me away from him.

"You've glitched!" I yelled as I turned back towards him, running straight at him. "You know they could have gone with us!" I didn't even know _how_ he would have known that, but something about this whole ordeal just seemed too real. Or too fake.

"You abandoned them, you stupid femme! You must love doing that, don't you?" He yelled as I ran into him, but he pushed me roughly to the side, making me land on my knees. I repressed a yelp as he kicked me to the side, making me tumble until I stopped rolling, ending with my back on the ground.

I groaned, trying to get up. "Shove that up your aft. You don't know what you're talking about."

"You were trying to play tough aft and guess what? A tougher aft came and raped yours."

At first I froze, but as the astroseconds passed, I slowly felt my frame shake with anger and infuriation that kept on rising. I could feel my optics become hot, to the point where I saw red.

"That's it. You're mine."

"Bring it."

I kicked his knees with my feet, making him groan in pain as his chest met the ground. I kicked him in the neck, disorienting him for a moment before he grabbed my ankle and tugged, making me land on my side. It didn't hurt, but I felt helpless again, like no matter what I was doing, he would win the fight. I wouldn't let him. I couldn't.

I kicked his helm with my other foot, kicking hard twice until he let go. He pounced from the ground straight at me, straddling my hips with his as he pinned down my wrists, lowering himself so that his chest was touching mine.

My sparkbeat quickened as I soon felt his warm breath trail over my nasal ridge. Soon, he let me go, or at least, seized the pressure on my wrists, but he didn't move his hips from mine. He only trailed lower as I watched him, the anger and fury gone with his sudden change of action.

"I didn't mean to do that." He whispered, his blue optics looking very innocent and his voice full of sincerity. "You know I never meant to do that." His face came closer to mine and I _wanted_ it to get even closer as my spark beat faster.

"I know…" I found myself say. "Then why did you?"

"Because of this."

The very same moment, something soft met my lips and I wasn't a fool. I knew it was a tender kiss. I had stopped breathing for a moment, but seeing as he didn't move, I moved my lips with his, moving my head along and inserting my glossa into his mouth.

It had been so wrong, yet so right. I should be fighting him, punishing him for what he said, yet here I was, kissing him like I wanted to be kissed.

He then slowly pulled away, looking at me with his deep blue optics. "I hope I made everything alright now."

I couldn't help but smirk. "This doesn't change anything."

"It changes _everything_." He said as I felt myself being pulled away into something else, something I could only describe as java.

**XxXxXxXxX**

I gasped as I sat up on my berth, breathing heavily as my spark beat wildly within my chest. What the frag had just happened?

I looked around, trying to calm myself as I realized that I was in my own quarters. Silvershot was asleep on his berth and he didn't seem to hear me. I brought my hand to rub my head.

Sweet, merciful Primus, what did I dream?

I stood up off the berth, walking around the room, checking my internal chronometer. Training was in two cycles, which meant that I had gotten up one and a half cycles early. I should be back in berth.

I glanced at the berth, but I couldn't go back there. Who knows what I would be dreaming of next. It's better if I went refuel, maybe do some extra training. I already know I had a nasty training in my dream.

As I got out of my quarters, careful not to wake up Silvershot and trying to be as silent as possible, I walked to the refueling area. As I got in, I was surprised to see a certain mech already sitting there, his back facing me.

I went to the energon dispenser, my footsteps quietly resounding throughout the room, making him look towards me. As I got my energon, I walked back towards him, sitting conversely of him. "Long time no see." He said, not even looking at me. I didn't answer him, I just put my cube on the table, looking at it, but watching Hot Rod with a peripheral optic. "You still gonna ignore me?"

"I wasn't ignoring you." My voice dropped a few octaves, sounding a little rough. "What are you doing here?"

"Had to clear my mind." He said, taking a sip of his energon before putting it on the table once more with a clinking sound. "You've been gone for a while."

"I was always here." I said as I noticed his voice dropped a couple octaves as well. "How's it going with Arcee?" I casually said, trying to sound as if she didn't bother me at all. Truth be told, I was slightly bothered by the fact that she was doing everything I had been doing with the guys, always sitting with them at my spot, probably laughing over the same stories they used to tell me. I didn't want to lose my friends, but could I possibly lose them to her?

"It's pretty good." He said as his voice was slowly returning to its normal tone. "She's been really nice."

"I know you like her." I said, taking a drink of my energon, but still not looking at him. "Don't try to deny it."

"It's not like I need your approval."

What? "What are you talking about?"

"I like her, but that's my thing."

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with you liking her. Pit, I'll even help you get on with her." Because why wouldn't I help him?

"…Why?" he asked, utterly confused. "I thought you didn't like her, hence why you never hung out with us since she joined us."

"I had other things that needed attention."

"Like the twins?"

"Shut it." I quickly said. "We're talking about you now." I gave a low sigh as I looked up, meeting his gaze. "If you really like her, which I know you do, then we'll find a way for you to get her." I simply said.

"You would do that?"

"Be your wingman? Of course, Rod." I bluntly said. "But we're gonna have to plan this if you really want her."

"There's a catch, right? There's always a catch."

"No catch." I shook my head.

"Then I think I have to do the same for you?"

That did sound appealing. "Sure." I shrugged, not giving the matter any thought. "I just want you to be happy and if being with Arcee means that, then we'll go for it."

"You have a spark of gold, you know that?" He said with a chuckle and a smile. "We'll think this through, but what about you and those two guys?"

"What of them?"

"Do you like them?" The question was blatant and I was surprised with it. Did I like them? Could I like both of them? I mean, that weird dream with Sunstreaker… "Gold?" He said.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I see you've already fallen for them." He smirked, crossing his arms.

"No, no." I quickly said, shaking my head. "I've just been thinking about something."

"Like?"

"Nothing really." I evaded the subject.

"You're totally falling for one of them." He said as his smirk grew bigger.

"I'm not falling for my friends." I determinedly said.

"You're lying, Gold, I know you are." Perhaps he was right, perhaps I did like one of them. Well, I knew exactly who I liked, but I wouldn't tell him that. He didn't need to know. "Tell me which one it is."

"I'll tell you it's one of them and that's all you're getting from me."

"Alright, alright, subject closed. Don't get all snippy with me." He said, giving me a sincere smile.

"I won't, but don't push it."

"Right. So here's what I was thinking…" His smirk turned into a grin as he brought up a data pad from his subspace, turning on the holographic version of its contents. Soon, we began to form a plan for me to help him and for him to help me. This was going to be beyond interesting.

**XxXxXxXxX**

"Hey, where are you going?" I called for him as he stopped short out of the quarters once more.

"I'm trying out the border patrols."

"What for?"

"It helps clean the processor. You might want to come along this time." He offered, but I declined wordlessly. "Have it your way. I'll be back later." Silvershot bade me goodbye as he got out of our quarters, leaving me in peace.

I sighed in relief, content with the solitude that embraced me. l knew it wouldn't last long, because I had already commed Sunstreaker and Sideswipe to come hang out with me. After last night's dream, I've been catching myself looking at Sunstreaker more than usual. Today's training for instance. Somehow, I was beginning to find myself glancing at him too often, my optics scanning his frame, his panels, his muscles and build. He was so majestically built, you'd think Primus himself crafted both of the twins.

After both of them confirmed that they would be coming here, I sank into my chair, offlining my optics and relaxing. I had felt so completely at ease and so comfortable. I projected images in my mind of Sunstreaker. There was this amazing feeling within my spark whenever I would think of him.

But no, mechs aren't exactly to be trusted. I know what Fireblaster did and I wasn't even that close with him.

But Sunny and Sides aren't _bad_ mechs.

It doesn't change anything.

'_It changes __**everything**__.'_ The sudden vocal clip from my dream entered my mind. Maybe it did change something, perhaps something between me and Sunstreaker? Or was it all in my imagination? I recalled the dream, how Sunstreaker had irritated me to my fault, poking and provoking, just like Fireblaster did. But then he just jumped at me, saying that this would change everything and he kissed me. It felt so good in the dream, it felt so real. And for the first time, I wished for it to be real.

My processor and spark were going to be in an everlasting fight, I knew it. One wanted to stay at a distance from mechs while the other wanted to become somebody's mate.

They didn't even bother knocking, because Silvershot left the door ajar and they just came in. The first had been Sideswipe, as always. "You cannot believe what we just saw!" He said with a laugh. "Whoa, Gold wake up!" A sudden shake stopped me from continuing my daydream.

I immediately turned on my optics, looking at him confusedly as he was in front of me in an instant. "What?"

"Thank Primus you're not offline." He huffed air out of his system as he collected himself, releasing his hold on me.

"Why would I be offline?" My brow plates furrowed.

"Your optics were offline." His brother said from behind him. "Anyway, we just witnessed the humiliation of the century."

"What happened?" I said as I pulled up the chair in front of the large couch where they sat, so that I could get a good look of them, mainly Sunstreaker. His voice warmed my spark.

"Gold, you should've been there, it was hilarious!" Sideswipe keeled over, laughing like never before. I started chuckling, his laughter catching me pretty quickly, it was spreading like the plague. "And the look on Arcee's face!" He burst out laughing, his voice resounding through the quarters.

I even saw a smile tugging its way onto to Sunstreaker's lips, most probably because his brother was happy and it affected him through the bond. As a sibling, I would know. How I wished to see him smile…

"Will any of you two tell me what happened?" I said as Sideswipe stopped laughing as manically, but he had a grin on his face.

"Okay, so we were just going into the rec room and we saw that the lights were off, but there were some weird sounds. Sunny and I thought somebody had been fragging, so we were quiet and we tried to figure out who it was. There were gasps like 'oh, you bad femme' so Sunny and I thought it was you, but it couldn't have been you because you commed us. So we were totally confused and then we turned on the lights and guess who we saw cuddling against a wall!"

"Uh…?" I raised an optic ridge, still having no idea who it was.

"Hot Rod and Mirage!"

I deadpanned at first, laughing at the scene of Mirage and Hot Rod cuddling. "How?"

"Hot Rod thought Mirage was _Arcee_ and it turned out that he and the others pranked Hot Rod into thinking he was going on a date with her!" Sideswipe laughed once more as I laughed with him. "But there's more! Then from out of nowhere, Arcee shows up and sees those two all surprised and she thought Hot Rod was _with_ Mirage!"

I laughed alongside Sideswipe and I could even hear a chuckle coming from Sunstreaker. "So what happened?"

"Arcee went all lunatic on Hot Rod and his chances with her are probably ruined now. But they told her that it was a prank, but I don't know what'll happen. Primus, you should've seen the look on her face when she caught them!" He laughed out loud as I couldn't control my laughter, laughing for all I was worth. Sunstreaker's deep and handsome chuckle grew a bit louder, but was lost within the echoes of mine and Sideswipe's voices. "Sunny and I should probably do that."

"Prank bots?" I said as I calmed myself, taking breaths. It wasn't good that Hot Rod now has to work double time to get Arcee, but it was just too comical. Mirage's prank really worked.

"Oh yes." Sideswipe nodded. "You wouldn't believe the things Sunny and I have in plan."

"Stop calling me that, abomination." Sunny's chuckle ceased immediately, his optics going from happy to glaring in less than an astrosecond. His mood changes were frightening and I was glad I wasn't the subject he was glaring on.

"It just slips out!" Sideswipe defended himself.

"My fist can slip out, too." He growled as Sides shook his head.

"I can't say sorry every time I call you that."

"Then don't call me that and you won't be sorry."

"It's not like I think about it."

"And that's exactly your problem." Sunstreaker finished the fight. "You don't _think_."

"But I-"

"So, Sunstreaker," I started breaking up the fight as his optics darted towards me, easily ignoring Sideswipe's failed attempt at a protest. "About that paint?"

"I get it, you don't like pink."

"And gold?"

Silence prevailed as he didn't answer me. "Tell her." Sideswipe chided him.

Sunstreaker rolled his optics. "Yes."

Yes? "Yes what?"

"Yes, we're gonna use gold paint for you."

"I can have Hot Rod call… oh wait, the paint shop is probably destroyed…" I somberly said, looking down. It was no use.

"I have an idea." Sides said, gaining out attention.

"That glitched processor of yours can actually form ideas?" Sunstreaker mocked, an invisible smirk on his face. It was there, you could hear it in his voice.

But Sides swiftly ignored him. "We ask Prowl if Praxus is void of 'Cons and we sneak into Praxus, take the paint and come back."

"In case you haven't noticed," I stood up from the chair, feeling stiff in my lower back. "We don't know where we are and we don't know where Praxus is."

"It was an idea." He only shrugged. "Maybe we can get that info from Prowl?"

"How exactly do you plan on hacking a military officer? He's probably not giving that kind of information to the public, so that the traitors, which we know there are and that they are among us, don't spread that information to the Decepticons. It's a security measure." I told them, having learned that a lot of things require stealth, trust and secrecy. Information of locations was one of them.

"I haven't really thought of that. But it does sound logical." Sideswipe said, batting his finger in approval.

Sunstreaker looked at Sideswipe like he was an idiot. "Of course it sounds logical, _she_ said it."

First time we agreed on something. "So what now? I don't suppose you have the paint?" I spoke to Sunny. "I mean, if you need it more, then I'll just stick to having Sides' on my frame."

"You kidding him? He doesn't leave his quarters without his paint in his subspace." Sides said. "Although I like the kinky thought of me being on your frame…" He said in a perverted way and I had to struggle not to chuckle.

"Can it, Sideswipe." Sunny scolded him. It reminded me so much of how Silvershot used to snap at me, sometimes for apparent and not so apparent reasons, but now I supposed it was all that 'brotherly love and protectiveness' that he always spoke about, but I never believed a word of it.

"Well, you do have the paint!"

"It's okay, Sides." I slowly nodded. "If he doesn't want to share, it's okay."

Sideswipe turned to glare at his brother, who evenly returned it, and I knew that they were having a conversation either through the sibling bond or the communication links. There was no third option. Or perhaps they were just having a staring contest and I was all wrong.

I started to walk from one wall to the other, slowly pacing as I felt my energon circulation enhance. "No, you said already that you would share. You have enough paint to color this Academy!" Sides argued.

"Since when have you become so observant?" He glared at his younger brother, but then he turned towards me, his optics going neutral, not glaring but not softening either. "Besides, I already agreed I would paint you."

"And I thank you greatly for that." I said with a smile, inclining my head to the side to show my gratefulness in a gentle gesture.

After a short silence, Sides spoke up. "See, it wasn't so hard to get along, now was it?"

"Shut it." Sunny and I said at the same time, looking at each other. I blushed under his beautiful yet confused gaze which was adorable, if anything about him could be described as adorable, and I had to turn away so he wouldn't see my slightly rose tinted cheek plates. Primus, was I liking him _that_ much already?

After a short silence as I turned on the TV screen, Sideswipe spoke up. "Can you believe it's been two cycles already?"

"Since you came here?"

"Yeah."

"That was pretty fast." I noted.

"You should see fast when Sunny and I race! That's got nothing on this." He cockily said.

"Alright street racer, we'll see about that when I get my alt upgraded." I said. "We're gonna have a little race."

"With you?" Sunstreaker inquired. "Please, don't embarrass yourself."

"What, you think I can't go fast?" I took a couple of steps closer to the couch where he and his twin were sitting on, and now, I was right in front of him, but at a normal distance.

"That's exactly what I think." He teased back.

"We'll see." I wasn't standing back, for I never refused a good challenge. And seeing what kind of alt Sunny had, I knew he was a tough bolt to break.

"Okay, I got an idea, let's do something else." Sideswipe quickly said, getting up from the couch. "Can we drive for a while? It's getting hot in these quarters."

"That's just me." Sunstreaker cockily replied.

Well, I couldn't exactly argue with _that_.

"Anybody up for a drive around the borders? We might even see Silvershot." I offered as I made my way towards the exit, careful to walk with grace and elegance so that Sunny would notice. I was _so_ in love, but didn't know if I _should_ be. Because of what Fireblaster did. He's a lesson that mechs aren't to be trusted. And Railgun, too. They are violent, strong and cowardly beings.

But then again, Silvershot wasn't cowardly, he saved both of us.

I was having mixed feelings about the moral of mechs, but one thing I knew for sure, my feelings for Sunstreaker were getting stronger, but at a really slow pace.

"You coming?" Sunstreaker turned around at the door, seeing as I had moved only an inch from my position.

"Yeah, I'm coming." I replied, walking towards the exit.

My feelings were definitively getting stronger.

**How did you like this? Are you excited for the upcoming TF4 movie, Age of Extinction? Less than ten days until the premiere! **

**Written:**

**21.05.2014.**


	19. He's Back

**Chapter 19: He's Back**

_**Two joors later…**_

It had been almost two joors when an expected, yet unexpected soldier arrived at the door of the Academy, guided by a military officer straight to Ratchet's bay. There were howls of happiness and excitement, although all I really felt was worry when I saw him. He had come back to us as a broken mech and that was no wonder.

After he had been repaired by Ratchet, he was given a couple of mega-cycles of rest and catching up. All of our gang was whole again, with the addition of Arcee. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe would sometimes come to meet with him and talk, but Sunstreaker saw no interest in him and was usually alone somewhere, enjoying his solitude. Recently, our fights had lessened, but neither of us wanted to admit defeat in any argument of contradicting thoughts.

I had recently turned 17 millennia, but I didn't celebrate the occasion. I didn't want to attract attention and unfortunately, I spent it like any ordinary day, which only spoiled my mood.

Blue and I had talked for a couple of cycles when he recuperated. When I asked him about Praxus and Springer, he told me that it didn't go well and that he didn't want to talk about it. When he asked me why was I so serious all of sudden and I, in turn, told him that I didn't want to talk about it. Both he and I had changed a lot in personality. He was less happy-go-lucky since I first met him, but I could say the same for myself. Tragedies do that to you and they scar you for eternity.

Although, he wasn't the only one to join the Academy. We had another superior officer come in and he went by the name of Jazz. I didn't know who he was or how he looked like, because I haven't had the chance to meet him yet, but I was told he was proficient in Special Operations and that he was an excellent special ops agent. I was looking forward to meeting him, but as always, I would have to be wary. Special ops agents are very deceiving.

But things didn't change much after that. I still hung out with the twins more often that with the rest of my team. Occasionally, I helped Hot Rod talk with Arcee and find an interesting subject and I sometimes went on extra trainings with Bumblebee and Mirage. But I didn't hang out with them during the break cycles. Sideswipe almost always had an idea and a wish, and me having nothing better to do, I went with him on various explorations.

One of my most favorite things about this whole Academy had been the late night hang outs. I could easily tell that I myself had changed a lot. I spoke less to my friends and spoke less to bots in general. I had found comfort in being dependent only on myself. But I would never be cocky about it, I learned my lesson a long time ago. I wasn't invincible.

Tonight was the first time I would go into the twins' quarters. Never before had I been there and we had known each other for joors. They had been in my quarters numerous times, yet I was never in theirs and it hardly seemed fair.

Sideswipe and I casually walked towards their quarters as I memorized where they were located. After he typed in the code, the door slid open with a beeping sound and let us in. I was really surprised by the looks of their quarters.

They were around the same size as mine and Silvershot's quarters, but were furnished quite differently. The basic garniture was there, a large TV screen with a large couch in front of it on one end of the quarters and on the other were two berths, just like mine and Silvershot's. In the corner of the room, there were large canisters of paint, brushes and paintbrushes neatly stacked in an open plastic box. In the next corner, there was a large metallic easel and multiple canvases sitting around.

The walls were adorned by graphic and realistic, true to life paintings. I had wondered how they got them, since they looked like they were worth millions of credits.

"Welcome to our humble home." Sideswipe said. "Femmes first." He moved aside so that I could enter first.

"Now you're gonna be chivalrous?" I said as I walked in and saw Sunstreaker lounging on the couch, the TV screen turned on as he watched the situation reports on Cybertron. Or at least, he was just lounging, the TV was running in the background. Oddly, he didn't acknowledge me. "I got this new upgrade I want to show you." I normally said as I slid out my double claws out of the back of my hand. I had these extremely strong and durable Cybertronium steel claws that I requested from Ironhide, the weapons specialist. He and Ratched developed them and installed them. They were very helpful in battle.

Seeing as I got no answer, Sideswipe and I walked towards him and saw that he had actually fallen into a light recharge. His tall, golden and lean body was splayed on the couch, one leg bent at the knee as his hand supported his head, the other resting on his strongly carved abs. I couldn't take my optics off him and truth be told, I didn't want to.

"Is he recharging?" I whispered to Sideswipe, asking the obvious, but not looking away from his brother.

"Not for long." Sides snickered. "We're gonna prank him."

"We?" Then I tore my optics away from him to look at Sides. "I'm not going to be participating in a prank."

"Yes, you are. Now come on, he's gonna have a nice wake up call." He quietly snickered once more. "We're gonna start screaming that we're under attack on my mark, got it?"

"And if others hear?"

"I could care less."

"Better close the door." I motioned with my helm towards the door. Sides nodded nonetheless and closed the door as it clicked shut. He and I turned off the lights and Sunstreaker didn't move at all. I turned on my night vision as my optics went green because of it. And green was the optic color of bounty hunters.

Sides moved behind the couch while I was standing quietly in front of Sunstreaker. He was so going to be pissed, but it _had_ to be hilarious, even for an astrosecond. Maybe he'll even let out a femme cry? I was oddly interested.

Sides spoke through the comlink, as to not disrupt Sunstreaker. _"Go!"_

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" I yelled like never before as Sideswipe joined in.

"IT'S MEGATRON!"

In the time that it took me to blink, Sunstreaker's wide optics shot open as the swords I didn't know he had slid out from his hands and when he saw me, he lunged at me from the couch, swiping with his sword right where my helm would be.

Out of pure instinct, my claws slid out as I blocked the attack. His other sword went in to jab me, but I skillfully dodged by moving to the side. His leg suddenly kicked me in the abdomen, sending me spiraling backwards as my back met with the wall, air getting out of my tanks because of the force of the blow. I blocked myself from another kick as his swords slid back into his hands and he grabbed me by the throat, lifting me up with strength I couldn't imagine he had. My feet dangled over the ground as I gripped his hands. I couldn't fragging breathe!

"Hey, it's a joke!" Sideswipe yelled, turning on the lights. I immediately turned off my night vision, my optic color switching to blue as I desperately tried to breathe and get out of his chokehold.

And just before the fatal punch had arrived, Sunstreaker stopped fighting. We stared at each other for a long moment and I slowly felt my optics going to the back of my head as I was starting to lose consciousness because of the lack of air supply.

Seeing what was imminent to happen, Sunstreaker lowered me to the ground and grabbed me by the left forearm and right shoulder. "Goldstreak?" He inquired confusedly as I cycled the air into my tanks, slowly regaining consciousness as my systems began to function normally once again. "What the frag are you doing?"

"Me?" I choked, the air still hadn't gotten to all of my frame. "It was a joke!"

"A joke?" He looked at me in the optics as if I was the biggest idiot he had ever seen. How I loved that look. "I suppose you didn't make up this _joke_."

"I didn't." I answered as we both turned to Sideswipe. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't going to do anything?" I sent him a glare. He was supposed to at least hold his brother off!

"I didn't know he was gonna have his swords out!"

"Her optics were green, I thought she was a bounty hunter!"

"What would a bounty hunter be doing here?!"

"I don't know! Sideswipe, I am going to dismantle you!"

"No, no, no, don't touch me!"

"Come here!" Sunstreaker bellowed as he quickly stood up and pounced at Sideswipe, who was somehow in front of the couch. They fell onto the couch and over the backrest, the metal clicking and thudding on the ground.

"Ow, ow, ow, not the head!"

"Serves you right!"

I quickly got up off the floor and hurried to them. I saw them both on the floor, Sunny holding Sides in a chokehold around his neck. Sunny really likes those chokeholds. "Okay, okay, break it up." I kneeled beside them, tugging Sunny's arms away from his brother. "That's enough now."

"It's never enough." He retorted.

"Listen to her!" Sideswipe choked, his brother's grasp on him intensifying.

"I said, that's _enough_." I let my voice drop to a deadly octave as they both stood still, their optics looking at me in wonder. The soon broke apart, all of us standing up. "You're behaving like sparklings." I put my hands on my hips, looking at them in disappointment.

"Look bro, hands on hips, hands on _hips_." He snickered as he nudged his brother, as if the whole chokehold thing didn't happen. "Slag's about to go down."

I sighed and shook my head. They were sparklings.

"Sides, can you get some energon? I'm in a mood for some medium grade." I plopped down on the couch.

"Medium? Babe, we only drink high grade here." Sideswipe said.

I didn't know what to be surprised of more. The fact that he had just called me babe or the fact that they actually drink high grade?

"She asked you to get medium grade." Sunstreaker's voice dropped a few tones. "And you'll get the medium grade."

"Fine, I'll be back in a klik, I just gotta find it."

"Where'd you put it?"

"That's what I'm gonna find out." Sideswipe said, getting out of the quarters to search for the medium grade. Sunny and I groaned in return, facepalming lightly.

"I can't believe I'm related to him."

"He could be your adopted brother."

"No, he's too good of a warrior to be adopted."

"Good genes?" I offered.

"No." He declined as an uncomfortable silence settled between us. I put my legs on the couch I was currently sitting on with Sunny and looked at him. "About earlier…" He started rather awkwardly.

"It was my fault. I shouldn't have gone with Sideswipe's prank."

"Actually, it was quite a good prank." His answer was completely unexpected. "I didn't know you were, well… you. Because of the green optics, I thought you were a bounty hunter."

"Night vision." I tapped my temple twice.

"So I assumed. I apologize for attacking you, I would never purposively hurt a femme."

"I guess we can say we're both sorry." I said, offering a weak smile.

"So to say." He shrugged, dismissing the matter.

This time, the silence was comfortable as the TV had been turned off when Sides turned off the lights. Apparently, he cut the whole power supply to the quarters. How he did that, I wouldn't know.

"I didn't know you had swords." I said, thinking over how he could have lopped me of my limbs with ease.

"I didn't know you had claws." He retorted back.

"How did you get the swords?" I pressed, not wanting to drop the matter even though I knew he would try to evade it.

"You weren't supposed to see that."

"Does Ironhide know?"

"Probably not."

"Well, he should."

"Well, he won't." Don't play with fire, Sunstreaker.

"You're really talented." I said, almost feeling like I was kissing up to him. "I've seen you handle the dummy swords, but with the real thing it was… well, it was much more frightening, but I think we should train with real swords in the future."

He snorted. "One slow reaction from you and you'd be decapitated. Although, you weren't too bad yourself." He said. Was that supposed to be a compliment? He had leaned into the backrest and armrest of the couch, his long legs splayed on the couch, short of touching mine. But he couldn't touch mine because I kept mine bent at the knees.

"So, should we tell Ironhide we want to train with real swords?"

"I'll think about it." He dismissed the subject. "Now, your upgrade?" He inquired.

"What about it?"

"Let me see it." He said. I nodded once as I leaned forwards and commanded for my claws on the back of my right hand to slide out from their compartments. Sunstreaker had leaned forwards only slightly as my optics caught the slight twitch of his six pack abs as they leaned forwards. "Cybertronium?" He queried.

"Exactly." I extended my hand to show him the new upgrade. "I have them on both hands." I put up my other hand as the claws on it slid out as well.

He didn't say anything, but he took my hands into his own and turned them over, looking at the claws and examining them. As my fingers occasionally touched his, I had noticed how the inside of his palms was plated with oddly soft plating. Not many bots had soft plating. I did, but for example, Silvershot didn't. His hands were completely battle rugged. Hot Rod didn't have the soft plating, either.

Which made me wonder if Sideswipe had the soft plating, too. They were twins, but there were differences between them.

I really wish he had kept his warm and soft hold on my hands, but he didn't. "They're alright, I suppose." He shrugged, care not evident in his voice. It wasn't really the answer I was expecting, but this was Sunstreaker. He wouldn't exactly be excited over anything.

**XxXxXxXxX**

"I want you to use your claws now." Ironhide instructed me as Sideswipe, Sunstreaker and I were placed in a triangle formation, facing each other. "Attack Sideswipe. Sideswipe, defend yourself without your weapons." He took the dummy sword from his hand as Sides groaned. "Begin."

I let my claws slide out as I took a stance.

"No, no, no. Do not alert the enemy of your intentions." Ironhide waved his hands in front of me, ceasing the practice. "You need to catch him by surprise."

"How can she catch him by surprise if this is _training_ and he _knows_ he's gonna be attacked?" Sunstreaker complained, nothing new there, but Sideswipe's attention was diverted to him and Ironhide.

"Yeah, I know she's gonna attack me and it's not gonna be eas-"

In the moment, I pounced at him from behind, grabbing him around the neck and getting him into a chokehold, the sharp tips of my claws clinking on his helm. As he struggled, I put light pressure on the helm. "One move and you're done." I said as I could feel his gulp under my forearm.

"Excellent, Goldstreak." Ironhide praised as I released Sides from the chokehold. "One last spar with Sunstreaker and call it a mega-cycle." He said uninterestedly, moving to lean on the wall.

Sides moved back to stand beside Ironhide as Sunstreaker and I occupied the fighting space, each of us in a fighting stance. They hadn't told Ironhide about their real swords, so for it to be a somewhat fair fight, he used the dummy swords and I used my claws.

But he didn't react. He didn't attack or make a move, he just monitored my every move, breath, action. I supposed it was up to me to start the fight.

I lunged at him, swinging with my right claws to damage his chest, but he expertly evaded it with a swift move to the side. He shoved me then, pushing me to the ground as I didn't have enough time to stop myself from moving. Instead, I crashed to the ground with my knees and palms first, but turned on my back swiftly. That's when came with the dummy sword down on me, holding it to my throat as I held my claws against his throat, his knees beside my hips as we struggled to cut the air supply to the other.

I started to shake, my frame not getting the air it was needing as I pressed the claws' edges onto Sunny's throat, trying to stop him from breathing. I had to repress the strong urge to gasp for breath, I had to win this. He may be a mech, but I wasn't going to give in. I had to fight for myself, I had to stand my ground.

But Sunstreaker's arms were starting to shake as well. My claws were pressing against the cables on his throat as even he had visible trouble breathing and focusing. It was just a couple of more astroseconds…

I felt my strength leaving me slowly, my arms burning me from the muscle use, but then a large black arm separated us. "Primus, you're going to get each other offline. You've passed the test." Ironhide said as my helm fell to the ground with a clink and I relaxed my frame, lying on the ground, gasping for air and breathing it in.

Sunstreaker was looking like he was having trouble standing on one knee and had to support himself with his hands as he too gasped for the precious air.

"Sideswipe, come. I must discuss this sudden complaint about Megatron being in your quarters."

"It was a prank."

"Tell that to Prime. Apparently, you caused a commotion within the…" His voice was lost as he and Sides left the training arena, leaving me and Sunstreaker in it.

Eventually, Sunstreaker couldn't hold himself anymore and lowered himself beside me, using his arms primarily. I glanced at his bulging muscles, noting how it must have took stellar cycles to get his body to look like _that_.

We were silent as we were lying next to each other on the ground, staring at the unpainted ceiling. My breathing was slowly starting to even out, while Sunstreaker's loud intakes were… well, loud. As I relaxed myself, I put my hands over my abdominal area. "You know…" I started, slowly saying words as to stimulate my air intake and cycling system. "I saw those paintings. Sides told me… you painted them." I slowly said, letting the air into all of my frame, replenishing my strength from the ongoing battle.

"So?" he said as his voice held a little agitation.

"Look at the ceiling." I said, slowly bringing up my silver colored servo. He noticed that he still hadn't painted me gold, like I wanted. "We could make it look like a Praxian sky."

"'Cept I've never been to Praxus."

That was going to be a problem. "Alright, we can use any other city." I shrugged, my metal plates lightly scratching the ground. Which reminded me I had to repair myself from today's training. There were these automated repair machines that the superiors got. I don't know how they got them, but they were incredibly handy. We had one in this training room, in case something very bad happened and Ratchet couldn't reach us in time. He was, sadly, the only medic here.

I slowly stood up and walked over the self repair machine turning it on. It emitted a blue laser that was directed straight to my throat, where Sunstreaker's dummy sword had been placed. The sword had been used so that it wouldn't hurt the Academics, but in the hands of a true warrior, anything could become a deadly weapon.

The laser moved to different parts of my frame, slowly healing and patching all the open wounds that I hadn't even felt I had. The pain toleration trainings from a stellar cycle ago were still holding onto me.

"Give me that." Sunny suddenly appeared and turned the repair machine towards him as it started working on him.

"The frag is wrong with you? You'll have your turn once I'm finished." I turned the machine back towards me. "How dare you take things away from me like that?"

He rolled his optics, irritation spread clear on his face. "Never mind, I'll go find another."

Damn right you will. Where in your right mind did you think you had the right to take away things from me? I was using the machine and he was wrong here by taking it away from me, literally. Which proves how mechs can be selfish beings. Although Sunstreaker was more than just selfish. He was a lot of things.

As the repair machine finished with working on me, I silently went to my quarters, feeling angry about the whole ordeal now. One moment we're normal and the next it's like we've been disliking each other since we met, and I knew the latter wasn't true.

At least I hoped it wasn't. If I liked him, which I did, and he disliked me, things were going to be so much worse before they got better.

**Written:**

**24.05.2014.**


	20. Golden Angel

**Would you look at that, chapter 20 is already written! Thank you all so much for constantly helping me with your reviews! Longer chapter ahead!**

**Chapter 20: Golden Angel**

Today was the day that all of us, scouts, warriors, spies and so on, had to run across the polygon. The fastest ones were marked and would be having their record times written in their files. Apparently, somebody would be making a team out of the best Autobots, or perhaps out of the Autobots that were still left on Cybertron, available for missions and top of the class. So we had to work hard if we were going to make this special team.

We were all competing in pairs and although I had been paired with Bluestreak, I finished the polygon first, winning in the one against one competition. Bluestreak was fast and could endure a lot of things, but height was a problem and when it came to jumping obstacles, his short stride was working against him. I was faster by a couple of astroseconds, but I wasn't told whether I would make the top three fastest polygon finishers list. This polygon was a test of our endurance, agility, strength, readiness and so on. Those who would end up in the top three were the most capable in the Academy.

What was odd was that I was seeing Silvershot much less than I usually would. He wasn't participating with us here and although I asked the superiors if Silvershot could be examined at a later time, they declined, saying that if he couldn't show up on time then he shouldn't show up at all. I was wondering what he was doing, but it had something to do with trainings. That much I knew.

Another thing, we had many trainings that included using our moral codes. One of the most important ones was that we _never_ left a bot behind. It was one of the most sacred rules to being an Autobot, you always had to protect your own, even at the cost of your own life.

"No bot gets left behind. Never. That's the promise you make now and that's the promise you keep forever." Ironhide instructed, lining us all up so that us academics stood side by side.

"Yes sir, no bot gets left behind." We repeated and with this spoken rule, we had swore to protect others even at the cost of our own lives. I was willing to do that now, because I had grown mature and understood that when another's life was in danger, yours didn't matter.

"Good. Dismissed." Ironhide said, going away.

But since this whole polygon examination thing has ended and most of the bots left, most of them talking about the moral code they had just swore to, I was ready to go for another round, just for fun.

And I wasn't the only one to stay.

I turned my head towards Sunstreaker, who was looking over the polygon. "Want to go for a round?" I said, walking up to him. "See who's faster?"

His eyes darted towards me as a cocky smirk found its way on his faceplates. "We already know who's faster."

I decided to use his cockiness against him. "Oh, so you're finally admitting that you're slower than a femme? Sunstreaker, you surprise me." I was the one with the last smirk.

He apparently bit the bait almost immediately. "I was implying on you."

"Were you now? It seemed more like a confession to me." I shrugged, sounding all innocent because it irritated him, tempting him to continue to try and defend himself.

"It wasn't a confession, because it's not true."

"Sure it is, you just said it was." I gave a small grin as my plan was working.

"Yeah, let's see about that." His game face was on as we stood at the beginning of the polygon. "Starting in three, two, one…" he didn't even get to say 'go' as I was already off the starting line and over the half walls that represented the first obstacle. I was so much faster now, so much stronger and felt more confident about myself while executing certain moves and jumps. I was growing increasingly agile.

I was over the half walls in record time as I immediately hit the ground, but not on my own, oh no. Sunstreaker had tripped me on purpose. I fell face first into the mud in front of me. I wiped my optics quickly as he gave a baritone laugh at me. When we were alone, he would be himself, or at least someone I thought was himself. Whenever someone else was there, his walls would come up again and he would be the scowling, snobbish golden god that I had known him to be. Even he couldn't hold his walls up for so long. We've known each other for a couple of joors and you can't keep up your walls when someone really wants to see what's behind them. And I really wanted to get to know him.

I groaned as I propped myself on my elbows, crawling through the mud and ducking my head down as to not catch the tripwire that was above me. Sunstreaker got into the mud as well. As I quickly finished the mud course, I took a handful of mud into my palm and waited an astrosecond for him to get up and out of the mud. When he did, I threw the mud at him, hitting him in the face.

I burst out laughing, seeing his blue optics disappear beneath the gunk. He growled at me, wiping his face free of mud as he sent me a look of annoyance and possible oncoming revenge. He grabbed more mud into his hand and threw it at me, but I skillfully dodged it, running to the next obstacle, but laughing nonetheless.

"You thought I'd play nice?" I yelled back as I got to a large, straight wall with two ropes slinging from it. I grabbed onto the rope and pulled myself up with a lot of strength in my arms and he quickly caught up.

"I like bad femmes." He temptingly.

No wonder there. "I knew you would." I called back as I reached the top of the wall, immediately crouching down to slide through the ladder gaps as the ladder connected to another wall horizontally. I pushed myself to catch the next pole. Sunny was quickly catching up to me and before I managed to finish the ladder course, his strong biceps helped him finish first.

But one the last pole, his muddy hand slipped and he was thrown back, because his previous hand was still holding on the pole behind the last one. He was thrown off course a little, but enough for me to surpass him. I used the given opportunity and got up off the ladder, standing on the top of the wall. I quickly used my legs to descend to the half wall, careful not to trip myself on the net that was connecting the full sized wall and the half wall.

In front of me, the familiar metal boxes were stacked one in front of the other, but going in a circular pattern. As I lunged to jump on the metal box, Sunstreaker caught me by the waist, twirling me back. I wouldn't give him the benefit of having the lead, so I gripped his hands so he couldn't break free.

As my feet met the ground, we twirled and I actually managed to laugh at the silliness. I haven't laughed like this in a _long_ time, where I actually laughed because I was enjoying something and having fun while doing it.

But Sunny wanted to win, so he put me behind him one more time, pulling his hands away from me once more. He sprinted towards the boxes as I angered. "No you don't!"

"Watch me!" He yelled back as I jumped from one box to the other. After I was only a couple of steps behind him as we both jumped onto the boxes that were ascending in height, one being taller than the other before it.

As we reached the top box, and the largest one I might add, Sunstreaker and I heard a booming explosion all of a sudden. That stopped us in our tracks as we immediately searched the horizon for any suspicious activity, catching our breaths and being on alert at the same time. "You hear that?" I quietly said, but loud enough for only Sunny to hear.

"Loud and clear." He quickly answered, nodding once. "That wasn't us." He meant on the Autobots. Of course it wasn't us, the Academy was in the completely opposite direction.

I heard a sudden scraping of metal against metal on my left as my head snapped to that side. The first thing I was met with were purple optics. The purple optic mechanoid drew his weapon up as functional wings flew up from his back, about fifty feet from us, hovering in the air. What _was_ this thing?

Then the unexpected, yet expected thing happened. He started shooting at us with the rifle, charging at us. Sunny and I ducked down as the winged Cybertronian flew over us. In the blink of an optic, Sunstreaker's swords were drawn and so were my sharpened claws.

We looked at each other at the same time and immediately we knew. We were fighting this thing together.

Then our heads snapped towards the mechanoid that was coming closer to us, his face filled with anger and fear as he shot straight at me, but unskillfully. I evaded the shots as I had seen their pattern before they hit the ground beside me. As he was going to fly over us, I drew up my claws and cut through his abdominal area.

The winged mech snarled in pain as he quickly made a U-turn straight for us, bleeding from his tanks. If Sunny or I took another step back, we would be falling straight into the hole beneath us, which was in the middle of another wall and represented the largest jump of the polygon.

"Theta position 3." Sunstreaker barely said as I immediately knew what he wanted to do. In order to exterminate the danger, I had to hit the ground and he would jump over me, using my back as a sort of a stool to jump and slice through the enemy that was above us. I immediately did what the position told us to do, hitting the ground with my knees and palms. It was teamwork at its finest.

I felt the sudden pressure of his whole weight on me as he used his strong legs to jump off me. I glanced up, only to see him using his sword to jab and slice through the enemy's sparkcase, energon and metal particles raining over us.

I quickly stood up, but I saw that Sunstreaker's sword was jammed into the offline mech's frame, but the mech was going down and Sunny wasn't able to take his sword out. As they fell towards the hole, I immediately caught Sunstreaker by the foot as both of us were sent spiraling down to the hole.

Somehow, my hold on Sunstreaker's foot had tugged loose and I fell near the hole, while Sunny and the offline mech's frames together were too heavy for the net of the hole to hold and it ruptured, sending them both down.

Without even thinking, I grabbed onto Sunstreaker's hand as my foot accidentally slipped on spilled energon and with my other hand, I caught the edge of the ground. We were dangling through the hole as my arms were experiencing sharp pains trying to hold both of us and I noticed that the dead mechanoid was probably down there in the pit hole. I repressed a yell of pain and anger as I looked up.

If I let go now, we are both going to be deactivated. This whole was too fragging deep, even for Ironhide's liking. We thought the net would hold if somebody fell, but we were proved wrong.

Then Sunstreaker quickly caught my attention. "Let go, I'll drag both of us down." He was rather calm, like he was willing to give his life so that I would get out alive. He took the rule of the moral code completely seriously, as he should have. But he wasn't the only one to be like that.

"Never leave a bot behind!" I yelled back. No way in pit was I leaving him to offline! I couldn't live with myself if I knew that the reason of my friend's deactivation was because of me.

"Stop it, Goldstreak. Let go."

I growled. "Not a chance, Sunstreaker."

Suddenly, the metal panel I was holding onto cracked and I knew that if I didn't let go, we would both fall down. It was a chance I was going to take. "Save yourself, Goldstreak."

"If we go down, we go down together, you understand?!" I was irritated by the fact that he just wanted to let go of me and go down. I wasn't going to give him the benefit. If we fell, we would fall together and that was final. The adrenaline was rushing through my energon lines, giving me the extra strength to hold both of us. I wasn't letting go of him!

But then the metal panel couldn't hold our weights together anymore and broke, as our Cybertronian gravity field pulled us down.

It was a fall that lasted a few extremely long astroseconds, as I felt Sunstreaker's arms grab me and putting himself underneath me. But it wasn't fast enough as I felt my legs hit the ground, excruciating pain hitting my pain receptors and then I felt myself fall into stasis.

**XxXxXxXxX**

I hadn't felt this bad since I had been raped.

And even then it didn't hurt this much.

I couldn't even groan how much my legs hurt. They were broken from the knee down, no doubt about it. They were most definitely crushed and pummeled, maybe even missing, but I was too weak to look at them.

Where the frag was I? What happened to me?

I opened my optics and was greeted with nothing but complete and utter darkness. I tried turning on my headlights, but only one light would come up and it was quite dimmed. Why was I not functioning normally?

I couldn't hold the pain of my broken legs anymore and turned off my pain receptors, the perks of being an inorganic. Although I couldn't stand up, I could rotate and use my upper body at will, so I did.

I was met with large walls, circular in pattern. I moved the headlight around, lighting different parts of the place. I looked down, there was nothing on the ground, only silver and gold metal parts.

Gold?

Then it hit me, I had crashed into a hole and I wasn't alone.

I searched frantically for him and when my headlight went over his frame accidentally, I prayed to Primus that what I was seeing wasn't real. I reluctantly motioned the headlight to go over his frame as I couldn't withhold a gasp that escaped my lips. A hand unconsciously found its way to my mouth plates, covering them.

He looked terrible, his body mangled and extremely scratched, leaning on a wall in his sit up position. Parts of his golden colored frame decorated the ground, but my silver parts were among his too.

I couldn't walk over to him, so I had resulted to crawling, swallowing down my pride and fully knowing that I could get an infection from exposing my open wounds to the dirty ground. But right now, it didn't matter at all. Only _he_ mattered.

As I saw what he looked like and gained in closer on him, I saw that his optics weren't online.

Oh no. Primus, don't let this be.

I got to him, sitting up next to him as I felt my frame touch his from the proximity as I felt drained, like all of energon had bled out, which was a possibility. "Sunny? Sunny, come on." I shook him with extreme gentility and care. "You have to get up."

He didn't move.

My sparkbeat increased from fear as I found myself shaking him with a little force now. I can't have him offlined! "Sunstreaker, we gotta go home."

I almost heard his internals working, but it was just that, _almost_. Come on, Sunny, online!

"HELP!" I yelled from the top of my voice. "Somebody!" My voice echoed through the hole, but the sound didn't reach ground zero. It was hopeless. I felt my throat tighten itself, my voice weakening and becoming softer as I took Sunstreaker's hand in mine. Please Sunny, please don't offline. "Anybody… help." I felt my optics water as I clenched his hand with my both hands, coddling it to my chest as I leaned against the wall beside him, our shoulders and sides touching.

I turned off my ever dimming headlight, saving my energon which dropped to critical. Which could mean only two things: I bled my energon out, which was highly possible, or we had been stuck here for mega-cycles, and my body was still using the energon, which was likely as well.

My head rested on the wall as I turned it towards Sunstreaker. Even in his limp form, he looked so strong. "I'm not leaving you Sunstreaker. Not by a long shot." My head inclined downwards, as I wiped my optics frivolously, not caring about anything else right now. I had to take care of Sunstreaker, even if he wasn't with the online.

But then why did his hand feel so warm?

Suddenly, his systems started to boot up and I could hear the ticking of his normally silent engine. Ticking wasn't a good sign.

I waited for his whole system to boot up, his optics flickering, soon regaining their glow, but they were very dimmed. The ticking of his engine continued, and it sputtered once. I looked at him, looking over his whole frame and trying to see if there was anything I could do. "Turn off your pain receptors, it'll make things easier." I softly and quietly said, because in the solitude of the hole that ate us, the only noises present were the noises that we made.

"G-Gold?" His vocalizer sputtered. I had wondered how he had even gotten out of stasis, but I was glad that he had. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself knowing he offlined on my watch. Could I bear the deactivation of another friend?

I gave his hand a gentle squeeze as he tried to figure out where his body parts were. He didn't hiss or cringe, which told me that he either turned off his pain receptors or he was so broken he couldn't even feel. "Thank Primus, you're alright." He noticed that his hand was in mine, but perhaps he didn't have the strength to move it back to himself or he just liked it there. "I was so worried." I let him know, my weak voice muttering. I hated being weak, but this was only Sunstreaker and right now, he was in a condition far worse than mine.

He gave a quiet groan, but a groan nonetheless, relaxing his frame against the wall, although it was visible that he was uncomfortable. "Where are we?" He rasped out.

I sighed. "In a hole."

He snorted. "Fantastic." He was silent for a while, before his deep voice queried again. "Can we get out?"

I shook my head, the glow of his optics lighting my face. "I don't know. Nobody knows where we are."

"I see. You have energon on your face plates." He noted. My other hand went to my face as I felt over the energon on my cheeks. "It's crusted."

"That must mean we've been here for a couple of cycles." I said as I tried to take the crusty energon off of my face, but Sunstreaker's other hand stopped me, holding it in his just inches from my face.

"Don't, you'll damage the paint."

I couldn't help but huff air out and smile. "I'm sorry, I'll just leave the crusted energon on my face so you can mock me every time you look at me."

His lips twisted in a small smile. "You got that right." He then turned his head, the glow of his optics running over the rounded walls. Our frames were still touching, shoulder on shoulder, but he didn't notice it. Or perhaps he did, I wouldn't know. "It's fragging cold." He complained.

"What's your energon status?"

"25%."

"Frag." I leaned my head back. "I have one cube in my compartment."

"I have plenty in my subspace. What's your status?"

"31%."

"When we reach 15%, I'll find a cube."

"Thanks." I nodded, although he couldn't see it because he wasn't turned towards me. Suddenly, his engine sputtered, coughing to keep running. "Clogged cylinder?" I asked, because an engine sputtered like that when a cylinder was clogged.

"You understand engines?" His head turned towards me as both of our heads were leaned on the wall behind us, looking at each other. I nodded in return as I breathed calmly, my chest rising and falling with every breath. "Odd."

"Odd?"

"Odd on so many levels."

"Like?"

"First, you're a femme warrior. Then you tell me you know your ways around engines. And you're still here, trying to take care of me."

"So it's not that common, who cares." I shrugged, turning my head to stare at the darkness in front of me.

Sunstreaker tugged his hand away from mine, the warmth immediately leaving it. A strong feeling of excitement surged suddenly through my abdomen, running through my frame, as if boosting me. "I don't need your help." He suddenly said. "I'm not a sparkling."

"Sunstreaker, I'm trying to help you. You have a clogged cylinder because of energon loss and the energon didn't travel correctly through your frame and ended up piling inside the cylinders. Let me fix you, I know how to do this."

"No."

"You need to get the cylinder unclogged."

"I don't want your help."

"You need it."

"I don't care what I need, I don't want it."

"I'm not asking."

"I'm not kidding." He glared at me as I glared in turn.

Eventually, I turned away, moving reluctantly from my warm spot to sit at a cold one conversely of him. Frag that egotistical idiot. If he doesn't want my help then he should just offline already.

No, I take that back. I can't have him offline.

I fragging care.

**Written:**

**28.05.2014.**


	21. Golden Savior

**Another longer chapter ahead, because I know how much you like to read longer chapters! The premiere of AOE is today, on the 26th of June 2014! Can't wait to see it!**

**Chapter 21: Golden Savior **

_**Four mega-cycles later…**_

"We're low on energon."

"I know." He replied.

"I'm cold."

"I am too."

"What if they forgot about us?"

"They wouldn't forget."

"You're right, they wouldn't." I sighed out as I pressed closer to his frame. Sometimes we would get along, other times we would curse at each other in agitation and anger. Right now, we were getting along and our situation was worsening significantly. We were getting lower on energon, it was getting colder and Sunstreaker's engine was failing. That, and neither one of us could access our bonds with our siblings. Help wasn't on the way.

In that moment, his engine decided to falter, ceasing to work for an astrosecond. Sunstreaker cringed as the engine started up again and continued to tick with struggle.

"You can't endure this any longer."

"I can and I will."

"It's too dangerous, Sunstreaker."

"I'll live."

"That's the problem, you won't." I told him as I sat up by his side with difficulty, as he was still leaning on the wall. "This is hurting you. Let me help you."

"I don't need-ARGH!" He yelled in pain and grabbed his chest plates as his engine ceased to work. He punched his chest as the engine started up again, coughing until it ignited, working with the ticks getting louder each and every time.

I sighed. "You can't do this any longer."

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do."

"I will, because I know I can save you and I don't care if you don't want me to. Lie down on your back."

"I'm not moving."

"You want to do this the easy or the hard way?" I threatened. "Because I can turn you over right now and pin you to the ground, no questions asked." I added a glare as well. He glared back at me, but sublimed, slowly lying on his back. "Watch the leg."

"I know." He groaned as he lied down on the ground. "It's so filthy here."

"Stop complaining." I said, sitting down by his chest. "I need you to open the chest plates."

"What are you, Ratchet now?"

"I'm everything you need me to be." I softly said as his chest plates slowly moved out of the way and he reluctantly gave me access to his inner circuitry. Usually, us Cybertronians only showed inner circuitry to medics or our significant others, perhaps even bots we had strong relations with. For Sunstreaker to open up to me, in the literal way, was more than just a test of trust and faith.

"How poetic."

"I'll leave you to offline if you don't shut it." I removed some of the security induced platings that would automatically rise when the chest plates were taken off. I worked my way past them as I reached the engine.

"Not if I offline you first."

"I'd like to see you try." I absently said as I opened my subspace and reached for a tool. I brought the tool to his engine, just barely touching it before the chest plates closed in on me, trapping my hand in his chest. "Sunstreaker, what the-"

"You said you wanted to see me try." He smirked.

I unsubspaced another tool, and hit him on the head with it. "You arrogant glitch, let go!" I smacked him once more, more out of fun than with the intention to really hurt him. Then as I did that, his optics powered off and his engine stopped working. The chest plates retracted and opened once more as my hand was free, but his system was shut off. "Oh frag no." I found myself muttering as I quickly worked into unclogging the cylinder, or what would seem cylinder_s_ as I saw that energon piled up in almost every cylinder of his powerful engine, suffocating him from the inside. I knew that if I hit him on the head it wouldn't offline him, but I felt fear running through my energon lines now, I had to be fast.

Quickly, with my other tool that reminded of a spade, I took out the energon that piled up and disposed of it to the side. After I had quickly done that, knowing that I didn't have much time before his body went into stasis, I put everything back into place, each screw and each plate, before I crawled to his head, putting it into my lap as I sat on my aft. "Don't die on me." I took the only remaining cube from my compartment and checked my own energon status.

6% of energon left.

No, Sunstreaker has to survive.

I brought his head up a little as I opened the cube's lid and brought it to his mouth plates. "Come on, Sunny, work with me here." My throat began to hurt as he wasn't opening his mouth. I had to do it for him and diligently sip the energon into his mouth.

I waited for a little while, but heard nothing. I poured some more and realized that the energon was stuck in his throat, not moving down to his tanks. There was an obstruction, another safety precaution. I examined his throat and found a screw that connected to the obstruction. I had been trained under Perceptor and First Aid and had above average medical knowledge that warriors carried and I knew exactly where and what to look for.

As I unscrewed the screw, the energon moved into his systems, immediately powering him up. I put the screw back in as I held his head in my hands on my lap, waiting for him to start up.

His engine started up immediately, this time running soundlessly, no ticking and no sputtering in its sounding. His optics powered up, brighter than I had seen them in these four mega-cycles we had been trapped down here. They looked around until they fell on mine.

"Good morning, Sunshine." I smiled as I held his head in my lap, smirking at his scowl on the nickname. I rested my back on the wall behind me, relaxing. "You're alright. Gave me quite a scare while I was fixing you."

"You asked for it."

"I did, didn't I?" I looked up as little sunlight entered the hole we were in.

"But I thank you." He seemed a little uneasy about saying this, but didn't stop. "You saved my life."

"It's alright." I gently moved my hand to make him more comfortable on my lap. "I don't have any more energon."

"That cube you had in your compartment, use it."

I sighed, but I didn't regret that I had given it to him. "I gave it to you."

"When? And why?"

"You needed it to start up."

"All of it?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"Hold on." He said as he suddenly opened his subspace, rummaging through it blindly, trying to grapple something from his lied down position. "Here." He said as he took out a bright blue cube from the subspace just before it closed. "Take it."

"It's okay." I shook my head as I politely declined. "I'll be alright." I was going to get into stasis if I didn't refuel, but I had to take care of Sunny now and me and my needs could wait. He was in critical condition. I had to severe his wounds on his leg to prevent him from bleeding to death.

"Take it." He urged, putting the cube on his abdomen, too lazy to give it to me.

I did as told and took the cube, opening it. "Thank you." I slowly started sipping on it, the delicate and wonderful taste of a high quality energon batch slipping through my throat and into my abdomen, powering me up effectively. "This is really good energon."

"I know." He said. "I know I won't be able to fully thank you, unless I do likewise."

"It takes a lot of trust to open up to somebody, just like that." I praised and noted, taking another sip of precious energon.

"It's not like you gave me a choice. Although, I would have done what you asked anyway."

"You didn't sound like that."

"Just because I didn't say it doesn't mean I didn't mean it."

"And how should I know what you mean if you don't say it?"

"Soothsay?"

"No." I smiled. "I'm just glad you're okay." I looked down at him.

As silence prevailed, I thought about how Sunny and I were starting to open up to each other. Spending time alone, although forced, gave you no other choice but to talk to the bot you were stuck with. After some silence as I drank my energon, Sunny spoke up once more. "I knew a lot of femmes." He said, looking up into the sky that was so out of reach. "None of them cared."

"What do you mean?" I said, looking at his optics while he kept gazing at the sky.

"Those femmes, none of them cared for me. It was all just... frag, why am I even telling you this?"

"I don't know, why are you?" I gently said, watching his expressions.

"Forget it." He shut his optics. "I hope those fragging superiors find us or I'm filing a complaint." He swiftly changed the subject.

"Make that two complaints." I said as I heard him chuckle, something that was rare and beautiful. "I don't understand what's taking them so long."

"Me neither." He shrugged, but cringed at the movement. He was far more hurt than he led on.

"Don't move, it's hurting you."

"Will you stop caring so much?"

I frowned. "I beg your pardon?"

"You're being too nice, too caring. It's… weird."

"You're glitching."

"No, I believe I'm quite sane."

"You don't sound sane. Go get some rest and let's hope that someone will find us."

He didn't say anything as I felt him relax on my thighs. I took one last look at his strong frame and then I leaned my head back, shutting my optics.

During these four mega-cycles, I knew that I had seen the purple optic mechanoid fall into the hole with us, but what confused me greatly was the fact that he wasn't in the hole. I had crawled from one wall to the other, looking for the mechanoid, but I couldn't find him. That had been about two mega-cycles ago and if the superiors don't find us any time soon, I'm not sure Sunny and I will be able to survive any longer.

Primus, help us.

**XxXxXxXxX**

"I don't care, we need to find those younglings."

"Video footage shows an attack."

"Attack?" The chorus of shocked voices resounded through the surveillance room.

"Red Alert, where was the attack stationed?" Prowl came over to him, querying on the way.

Red Alert searched through the video surveillance as he and Prowl talked about it, while on the other side of the surveillance room, the other commanding officers spoke to each other. "I thought this base was supposed to be safe." Ironhide spoke.

"It's the safest we got. The whole of Cybertron is under attack."

"It's not a Decepticon." Prowl said, looking over the video footage.

"Then what is it?" Elita asked, coming by his side as she monitored the video footage of two warriors fighting against a flying menace. "It looks like a Seeker to me."

"It's not, frame build and optic coloration denies it. Optics are purple and Seekers are taller and leaner in frame. This is most definitely not a Decepticon. It looks more like a Neutral to me." Prowl answered as they looked over the footage repeatedly.

"What would a Neutral be doing here?" Ironhide questioned as he came to the crowd and watched the video footage.

"This is Caveblow, he's a wanted Neutral." Red Alert said, already finding Caveblow's profile among the citizens of Cybertron. "He is considered extremely dangerous because of his mercurial attitude. His body is here." He pointed to another footage. "He got caught up in the security electrical shock defenses. He is fried to the core."

Ironhide watched the footage as he saw a certain move done by Sunstreaker and Goldstreak using their combined strengths to perform. "Ah, Theta position 3. We taught these academics good." He proudly added. "At least _someone_ is using their knowledge."

"I'm intrigued by all of this." Prowl said. "Where did Sunstreaker learn those moves, not including Theta position 3? They weren't part of the program here. And where did he obtain the swords? Those are not the dummy ones we use here."

"I think those are his swords." Ironhide said as Red Alert went over Sunstreaker's skilled moves repeatedly.

"Why hasn't he reported his weapons then?" Elita asked.

"Beats me." Ironhide shrugged. "Both of the younglings are talented, although Sunstreaker would seem to be more skilled. What are his origins?"

"We have no information on them." Prowl answered as he tapped on the keyboard, zooming in on Sunstreaker.

"Them? I thought Goldstreak came from your camp."

"I wasn't referring to Goldstreak, I was referring to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. The twins have no origin, no place of birth, no date of birth, no residential address, no creators. It's like they didn't exist before all of this."

"I can have Jazz check them out. He has his agents." Ironhide offered, giving Sunstreaker a curious optic.

"No, they haven't done anything wrong yet. If anything, he displayed acts of immense courage. I'm irritated by the fact that we can't find them. Red Alert, do the other cameras display another point of view?"

"No Prowl, they are all in blind spots. But based on the blueprints, there's a large hole there in the polygon, in the middle of these two walls." He pointed on the screen.

"You think they fell into that hole? It's secured by a net." Ironhide contributed to the conversation once more.

"We have to check it out." Prowl answered. "Ironhide, summon Ratchet to meet me near the hole in three kliks. The rest, bring ropes for we may need to evacuate if there is something to be found there."

**XxXxXxXxX**

"Primus, this is taking too long." Sunny complained.

"Tell me about it." I huffed as I had felt my legs grow stiff from not moving them, but Sunstreaker's comfort was more important to me now. He had really taken the blow and I remember that before we crashed down, he somewhat cushioned my fall. "I'm glad we're even online."

"If you hadn't held onto the ledge, you wouldn't be here."

"If I wasn't here then you would be offline."

"True." He said, nodding once. "And because you saved my life, I realized that you can be trusted." After hearing this, I honestly felt flattered. I earned his trust. He lowered his voice, as if to say something quietly. "Now, you can call me by that dreaded nickname."

"Really?" I gaped at him.

"Yes, really."

"…Thank you."

"Good." He said, relaxing into my thighs. "I can't wait to get the frag out of here."

"Me neither, it's been _too_ long."

"At least we agree on something."

"True." I replied, craning my neck from one side to the other, hearing my cords crack with satisfaction.

"Will you not do that? Every time you do that I think you're going to fall apart."

"And you wouldn't want that, now would you?" I smirked.

"I… You know what, don't even ask." He rolled his optics. "I am growing fragging stiff being in the same position for cycles. I want to sit up."

"You will lay there until help comes."

"Why?"

"Do you want to clog your cylinders again?"

"It's not like _I_ did it."

"Doesn't matter, let the energon flow uninterruptedly through your frame, there will be plenty of times where you'll be walking your legs off." Then I realized he really had a leg off. I regretted saying that immediately. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to offend you."

"None taken." He simply said. "Why don't you recharge?"

It was a good question. My energy levels were dangerously low. I hadn't recharged in a little over four mega-cycles and my body was slowly starting to crash on me. "I have more pressing matters at hand."

"Like?"

"You." I looked into his optics. He looked back. "I have to take care of you, first."

"You've been attending to my every need for the past fragging four mega-cycles, your help isn't needed anymore. Go recharge."

"No can do, Sunny." I said, waiting a scowl, groan or curse to come at me, but it didn't. Then I remembered that he told me that I _could_ call him that.

"I said, go recharge."

"I don't care what you say." I bluntly told him. "I'm glad I have your trust, as you have mine now." I let the words sink in and perhaps I felt his frame relax on my lap. "But I'm staying awake and that's final."

"I'm the older one here and I say when it's final."

"You are paraplegic."

"One leg is still working." He said as he lifted his right leg slightly, his abs sticking out from the use of muscle.

"I see that." I said. "That's good." I praised him, because I knew exactly how to feed his big ego. Although, in the end it really was good that his only leg worked. "You're not going to panic, are you? I mean, you are missing a limb and-"

"Does it look like I'm going to panic?" He looked at me like I was an idiot.

"You never know, even the mighty Sunstreaker might fall into the great perils of panic some time."

"Not happening." He retorted immediately.

After another silence, I spoke up. "I am so bored out of my head."

"You ain't the only one. We might as well offline in here for all they care about."

"Don't say that, they'll find us."

He snorted. "It doesn't take five mega-cycles to find two missing bots. Not in this area where everything is so _secure_ as they put it."

"You have doubt in the system?"

"I have doubt in the bots here."

"Don't. Don't go there."

"It's the truth."

"There's still time."

"Yeah, on their side and what about us? Are we gonna bleed to death, rust to death? Primus, I don't even know how I survived without a limb so far."

"I severed the wound on your leg and used what I had of metal sheets to patch your wounds. Ratchet will have to repair everything when we get out of here. I did the best I could, but it's not pretty."

"What about you? You still have open wounds." He said as he suddenly touched a tender spot on my forearm. I hissed as I moved the arm away.

"Yes, I know I have injuries, but-"

"Why did you use it all on me?"

What kind of a question is that? I didn't know what to reply with, so I bluntly answered. "You're my friend."

That didn't seem to be enough of an answer for him. "Why would you be so selfless and give everything you have for another?"

"I've been raised that way. Besides, you know the moral code. Never leave a bot behind and always help when needed. You needed help and I gave it to you."

"But in doing so you have nothing left for yourself." He said it in a way like I was an idiot for doing so. But I knew I did the right thing and I didn't need his approval. Had I not done the things I did, he would be deactivated, so anything else no longer mattered, and that included me.

"I don't matter, Sunny." I shook my head. "You had a limb missing and you cushioned my fall. It was the least I could do."

"I'll have to tell you something later." He suddenly said, as if he had a thought in his mind, but didn't want to say it out loud just yet. "And where _is_ my leg?" He queried, displeased at the fact that he would have to go to Ratchet after everything that had just happened.

"In the corner." I turned on my one headlight, as dim as it was, and showed him where his energon covered leg was, all mangled and looking honestly disgusting.

"I didn't need to see that."

"You wanted to know."

"I didn't want you to show me."

"You asked where it was."

A warning on my HUD told me that my energy levels were on 3%. "...n't and you just… Gold? You're dozing off."

"Sorry, sorry." I pinched myself, but I didn't feel any pain. It's the first time I hadn't felt pain because of the pain toleration trainings when I wanted to feel pain. Pain would keep me awake and I couldn't go to recharge now. Sunstreaker needed me, although he would never admit it.

"Go recharge, you need it."

I desperately needed it.

"Nap. I'll just take a five klik nap and that's it." I said as I raised a single finger up.

"Five kliks won't do you any good."

"I can't have you awake while I'm recharging."

"Then I'll recharge alongside you."

I might as well make a compromise. "Sounds good to me." I said as I gently moved away from him, lying beside him on the filthy and stinking ground.

As I felt the warmth of his frame near me, I let myself fall into recharge, but firstly checking silently that he was initiating recharge as well. Seeing as he did his part, I did mine and let myself fall into peaceful recharge.

**XxXxXxXxX**

"They're in there alright. I have two faint energy signatures down below."

"Alright Ratchet, how many bots do you need?"

"I need only one. Ironhide come with me. Prowl, Elita, Jazz, you hold the ropes and be ready to descend us down there."

"Roger that, Ratchet." Elita said, grabbing the rope that connected to a bedding that would descend Ironhide and Ratchet and would be used later to ascend Sunstreaker and Goldstreak. "Let's go."

Ratchet and Ironhide sat into the bedding, slowly being lowered into the depths of the hole. They were silent as they made their descent to the bottom and once they had reached the ground, the upper bots stopped lowering the bedding.

Ironhide and Ratchet turned on their headlights, looking over their frames. "Primus, the frag have these younglings been through?"

Ratchet looked up. "Not only were they defending each other, they took a fall together." He brought up his scanner and scanned their frames. "It's a miracle they survived such a large drop."

"They are one of the top three academics here. I think they will even make the team that Optimus is searching for. He needs the most talented academics and these two make the list."

Ratchet gave no form of acknowledgement, and instead, he kept on muttering to himself. "I would expect them to have each other's bond keep them strong, hence why they're still online, but I can detect no bond between them. Peculiar. They're in stasis."

"Should we get them into the bedding?"

"Yes, at once. Take Sunstreaker first, he is most injured." Ironhide didn't bother nod as he came to the mech, taking him into his arms. "Be careful with him, they are both in stasis and his energy levels are faint."

"He doesn't feel too warm either. We have to hurry."

"Go, get him out of here, I'll take care of Goldstreak." Ratchet urged as Ironhide set Sunstreaker into the bedding. Via comlink, he told the bots up on the surface to bring them up, while Ratchet was left alone with Goldstreak.

He looked around, his flashlights and headlights scanning the whole area. He had found Sunstreaker's missing leg and by the looks of it, it was covered in energon and could be repaired, if a certain amount of time was taken out and dedicated to rebuilding the circuitry and platings.

He sighed to himself as he turned to Goldstreak. "Primus youngling, you've been through too much already." He spoke to her, but she didn't hear him in her stasis. "First your incident in Praxus, then the destruction of your hometown, now this…" He sighed once more, taking her and Sunstreaker's leg into his arms as the bedding was lowered down to pick him up. "I hope all of this was worth it."

And with that, he told Prowl, Jazz and Elita to pull him back up.

**Written:**

**29.05.2014.**


	22. A God's Sacrifice

**Thank you all for the feedback! I'm surprised with how much you like this story! It only keeps me going to try and be the best I can. Thank you to infinity! Also, how many of you have seen AOE? My mind is blown!**

**Chapter 22: A God's Sacrifice**

"Alright, Ironhide take Sunstreaker, Elita take his limb, I'll carry Goldstreak to the med bay. Prowl, you clear a path."

After sounds of confirmation greeted Ratchet's order, they made their way towards the entrance of the Academy, where the hallway was decorated with Autobot rookies wanting answers to their questions of why the commanding officers were all outside, why their friends were missing and why couldn't siblings access their bonds.

As Prowl moved everybody aside, the first one into the med bay was Ironhide with Sunstreaker, closely followed by Elita, who was carrying Sunny's torn leg from his body.

"Whoa, what is going on?" Hot Rod said, looking over Sunstreaker's body with wide optics. Astroseconds later, Ratchet came into the hallway with an offline Goldstreak in his arms, completely limp and oblivious to the world.

"Is she alright?"

"What happened to her?!"

"Was there an attack?"

"When I get my hands on those Decepticree-"

"Cease this." Prowl said sharply as everybody shut up immediately. "Go to your quarters." He ordered, ushering bots to the side.

With a lot of protesting and grumbling, the inferiors sublimed to his order, but didn't stop talking. "She's lost her legs from the knee joints down." Bumblebee said, voice filled with worry as Ratchet passed him, his head moving as Ratchet did.

"I saw that, Bee, don't remind me." Hot Rod answered, barely turning around because of the order. He would follow it, but rather slowly. Ratchet started passing through the hallway with Goldstreak in his arms as Prowl made way for him to pass. Heads turned when he passed. "Primus, who did that to her?" Hot Rod voiced loudly.

"What the…" Everybody gasped when Ratchet passed them. "Did they have a death match or something?" Cliffjumper asked, looking over her torn body as Ratchet had to come to the doors of the med bay, entering. He placed Goldstreak on a separate berth from Sunstreaker, but their berths were standing one beside the other.

When Ratchet came out of the med bay, he glared at everybody that was still standing in the hallway, which included most of the bots on base. "You were told to go to your quarters. Go away."

Hot Rod was the first one to voice his thoughts. "Ratchet, what about G-"

"Go away." He swiftly cut him midsentence.

Sideswipe found his way into the crowd, eager to know what this was all about and already having questions as to why he wasn't able to access his sibling bond with Sunstreaker. He looked to Bumblebee as he was trying to catch Ratchet's attention with a query. "And Sun-"

"Prowl!" Ratchet bellowed in a prolonged tone as Prowl turned his head towards him at the call of his designation. He understood what was happening immediately. Bots needed to be shoved away so that he could work in peace.

"Those who remain this sector in the next ten astroseconds are assigned to cleaning duty for the rest of the cycle." He threatened.

Nobody moved.

"I want to know what's with my femme." Hot Rod determinedly said, freely speaking like this since Arcee wasn't around and his chances with her were unknown.

"_Your_ femme?" Sideswipe came out of the crowd, scrutinizing him with his look. "She's available, she's not yours."

"She's not yours either."

"You want to take this outside?" Sideswipe challenged, hands forming into fists as his body turned rigid.

"Stop it you two." Cliffjumper interjected, eyeing both of them.

"Goldstreak's not his fem-" Hot Rod started, but was cut off by Sideswipe.

"Who fragging cares? I have my brother in there and I'll be damned if I don't go through this door-" He started making his way into the med bay where the CMO stood, but Ratchet's hand found its way on Sideswipe's chest.

"You're not going anywhere. Stay put." He said.

"Ratchet, my brothe-"

"And I don't want to hear another word about it." He gave him a look and entered the med bay, trusting Prowl would keep them all away as Ironhide and Elita left the bay, the doors closing behind them. There was an uncomfortable silence in the hallway.

"You are all on cleaning duty for the next cycle." Prowl ordered as Ironhide and Elita crossed their arms in front of the doors, smirking.

A chorus of complaints greeted him.

**XxXxXxXxX**

I felt being awaken, brought to life. The first thing that met my optics was blinding light.

I waved my hands in front of it and I was met with something warm and metal. It was the forearm of a bot.

"Get that light away from me." I waved again, groggily, as the background came into view. I was in the med bay as the light lessened until it became just a small projection from a pen that Ratchet used to see if my optics could track movement.

"Good, optical sensors functioning, vocalizer too."

A headache greeted me almost immediately as I groaned. It was situated in my right temple and hurt like frag. I let out a groan, placing my hand on my head, but I didn't whine.

"What happened?" I asked absently as I brought myself up on my forearms, only to be pushed back down, rather gently, by Ratchet.

"You survived a nasty fall." He said as he turned around, working on a next to me berth with someone else at it.

"I went to have a small nap, I…" And then it hit me, I wasn't alone in the pit hole. "Sunstreaker. Where is Sunstreaker?"

"He's here."

"Where?"

"Here."

"Where is here, Ratchet?"

He turned to look at me like I was an idiot. "Here, as in right in front of me, here. Maybe I should double check your optical sensors, also your audios."

"Good, you should have said it like that." I became rather informal, but Ratchet didn't mind, or at least, he didn't show any signs of dislike. Perhaps I really shouldn't have reacted or spoken to him like that. He was the CMO, I was just an academic. Did I have to question and doubt myself so much? There I go again. "I'm sorry, Ratchet."

"What for, youngling?"

"For speaking to you like this."

He huffed. "It's alright."

"No, it's not. You're a bot of status and you should be regarded as such."

His welder had suddenly shut off, and I hadn't realized that it was on until he turned it off. Just like many things in life, we don't realize they're there until they're gone. "Don't wear down your processor with such thoughts. They won't help anyone. Besides, that's how things work here." He shrugged, continuing to work, the welder turned on again.

"Everybody regards you with disrespect?"

"No, they just avoid the respect part."

"And you are fine with it?"

"Not entirely, but with more young cadets coming, all of them full of testosterone and you and Arcee being the only femmes… a lot of bad things can happen. The mechs are too inexperienced and too naïve and excited, just wanting to shoot first and ask questions later. It gets them in my bay far too often for my liking and after some time, they lose the formality and talk to me as if I was their fellow mech friend."

"But you are their superior… How come Prowl maintains a strictly formal relationship with everyone, but to you they speak-"

"That's because Prowl doesn't dig around their internals looking for errors. Prowl is just… Prowl. He's something different."

Like I didn't know that. "I know." But then something in my processor didn't make sense. I went back to the mega-cycle before I fell asleep. I wanted to take a nap… so what was I doing here? How did I end up in here? "Ratchet, how did I get here?"

"You were rescued."

"By who?"

"Me."

Ratchet, a savior other than being a sacramental medic? "You saved me?"

"Indeed." If so, then I was in his debt.

"Ratchet, I can't thank you enou-"

"Hush, youngling, it's all in the moral code. This is what you vow for, this is what you do."

It didn't make sense… How could I had gotten into stasis when I had simply went into recharge? "But I went into recharge, I was only at three percent energy level and-"

"Three percent?" He cut me off. "Are you out of your processor? Your frame could have initiated emergency stasis because of that! Why didn't you recharge earlier?"

"I had to fix Sunstreaker." I replied with the truth.

"Fix Sunstreaker." He said disbelievingly.

"Yes."

"On your own."

"Affirmative."

"Without anybody monitoring you."

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"Quite. Although I did find a lot of well patched injuries on his frame, but no patched injuries on your frame, which confused me. What was the problem?"

"Cylinder clogging and lack of metal sheets."

"And you fixed that on your own?" Did he have to question me? I hated being questioned. It made me feel like I wasn't good enough.

"Yes, Ratchet. Please, stop sounding so… do you think I'm lying to you?"

"Let me check that." He said as I heard metal clinking against metal as I supposed that he was shuffling through Sunny's chest. "Would you look at that. Cylinders still have some piled energon left in them, but they're mostly clean. I can see spade marks. It looked fatal." He said, twisting and looking over and into the cylinders. "You actually saved his life." He turned his head towards me once, before continuing to work on patching his open injuries that adorned his arms.

"I know." I nodded to myself.

"Who trained you?"

"First Aid and Perceptor."

He was silent after my reply. "_The _Perceptor?"

"I think there's only one."

"But he isn't online. He died in Praxus."

I knew that. "Yes." I replied. "I was taught under First Aid and Perceptor and I have above average medical knowledge for a warrior."

"I will look into that."

Yeah, you do that Ratchet, since you don't believe a fragging word I say to you. "Can I go to my quarters now?"

"No. You need repairs."

"I don't feel pain."

"Because I disabled your pain receptors for your lower body."

"Why?"

"You are missing your frame from the knee joints down."

I didn't dare look down as I suddenly remembered that I did suffer severe damage to my legs. "That bad, huh."

"It could have been worse. Take Sunstreaker, for instance. He doesn't _have_ a leg."

"Can you repair him?"

He made an odd sound. "Youngling, I didn't become CMO by not being able to repair bots. Of course I can take care of him."

"Good, good." I sighed out, looking at the ceiling.

"You are rather calm for someone who has lost their frame parts and someone who went over a lot of stress in the past quartex."

What is he, a psychologist? "Yes." I answered to get him off my back, not interested in telling him that after I had been through fragging pit and back with the loss of my creators, my home, my friends, I felt as if another shock would either make me or break me. Which was why I had to help Sunstreaker, because I felt like I would fragging break. I don't think I could have handled his deactivation. That would have been too much, but had it been another bot, I don't think their demise would affect me as much. Little, yes, but not as much as Sunstreaker's would.

"Care to explain why?" I heard him while he was working. "After all, you are a femme." Oh so if I'm a femme, does that mean I have to explain myself for every fragging thing I do?

"Is this degradation because of gender?"

"I am simply asking, you don't seem to have any sign of trauma." Will he _ever_ let me go?

"Just because there's no sign doesn't mean it's not there."

"Do you always retort?"

"Only when I'm not left alone at will."

"I see. Well, your wish has come true, I have delicate wiring to do. I have to reopen his wound now. At least you patched it and that saved his life greatly, otherwise he would have bled to death. He owes you a lot, you know."

"I know."

Ratchet surprisingly didn't add something else and actually let me be alone. The first thought that entered my processor was the fact that I could not access my bond with my mother when she had been online. I didn't know whether it was like that because I couldn't find the time to talk to her or because her part of the bond was blocked. Anything was possible.

I wished to hear her voice, to have some advice and to not roam this world alone.

"Ratchet, why didn't I wake up when you evacuated us from the hole? I was only in recharge."

"Youngling, your frame was under so much strain that, as a safety precaution, it transferred your recharge into stasis."

"So I was in stasis?"

"Exactly."

"And Sunstreaker?"

"He's happy to be functioning." He said as his voice led on a little threatening tone. 'Sunstreaker' and 'happy' didn't go in the same sentence. "But he is in stasis as well, although I had to force him into a medically induced stasis, so that I can perform a surgery on him."

"What's the progress?" I queried.

"I have to repair the nerves so that he will be able to control his leg normally and not have it glitching. It will take mega-cycles of work."

"Could I be of any help?"

"No, you are on rehabilitation." He said, his tools clinking on the metal berth as he put them down not so gently. He then turned towards a cabinet off to the left of the bay and took out a cube. "Drink this." He set the cube on the berth and went back, but I caught a glimpse of Sunstreaker and I had to force myself not to gasp.

While we were in the pit hole, I couldn't see everything, but now where everything was lighted, Sunstreaker looked horrible and that didn't even begin to describe the damage he took. His frame was burnt, I don't know how it got burnt, but the plates were deformed and distorted, a fair amount of them missing. My tanks churned, almost going to the point of purging as I couldn't get the picture out of my head. But on the plates he still had attached to his body, he had scratches and dents all over his arms and shoulders and they were all deep and black in coloration.

Was the attack so bad? Or did the fall do this to him?

Could I have done a better job?

"I know that look in your optics." Ratchet said, pausing to lean on the berth Sunny was lying on, crossing his arms across his chest to look at me. "You think you could have done more. Truth is, youngling, you're not a medic. You're training to be a warrior."

As if I didn't know that. I didn't answer him, lest I wanted to cause another drama. "Which is why I want to ask you to train me."

"To train you? I'm just a medic and you're a warrior. It's illogical."

"Ratchet, you're the _best_ medic. I _want_ to learn more in the medical field, I'll need that knowledge."

"I can't deny your request just yet, but I will give it some thought." That was a somewhat positive answer.

"Thank you." I said as I shut my optics. "I'll just recharge now."

"Good, this fragger is starting to wake up. Mind if I perform some repairs on you?"

"I'll induce temporary stasis then." I said. "Sunstreaker is fine, right?"

"Yes, he's fine." Ratchet answered as I heard a raspy groan come from my right and that was most definitely Sunny's groan.

With that, I induced temporary stasis for a couple of cycles, finally managing to catch up on some rest. I needed it for so long.

But as a last thought, I sent Primus a prayer of thanks, for saving me and Sunstreaker.

**XxXxXxXxX**

I was gently being woken up by own system into awareness. When I opened my optics, I was met with a grey ceiling above me, surprisingly no cracks on it, as I had been used to seeing at the Autobot camp in Praxus, when Praxus existed.

I felt somebody's touch on my arm, so I slowly craned my head towards the right, seeing Silvershot sitting in a chair next to my berth, his hand on my arm. "Shot…" I quietly said, but it was enough for him. He looked around, as if checking for something, and then his optics landed on mine, softening.

"Good, you're awake." He gently said, as if careful to say anything louder, looking at me as if I would crumble to pieces like rust dust. "Ratchet didn't tell me slag, so what happened to you? I couldn't access the bond and I knew something was wrong, so I reported it to Ratchet. He reported your disappearance to Prowl and he started the whole mission." He carefully explained, which completely caught me by surprise. "Will you explain?"

"Yes, of course." I suddenly said, clearing my throat. Primus, Silvershot could be so sudden at times. I propped myself up on my forearms, but suddenly, pain flared through my legs as I gulped down a yelp. I looked at my legs, they were just protoform, no armor and no shield platings on them. I looked up onto the dreaded ceiling once more. Primus just loved to torture me with pain, didn't he.

I carefully made myself comfortable as I looked at Silvershot, completely and solely focused on him. "It all started after the polygon training."

"You do realize that was a quartex ago." He queried with a statement.

"Yes, I know." I lightly nodded once. "And Sunstreaker and I were competing against each other and out of nowhere, this winged mechanoid attacked us. He and I fought him, but somehow, he managed to drag Sunstreaker down to the hole between the tallest boxes, you know, those at the end of the polygon?"

"I know what you mean, continue."

"Well, the net above the hole couldn't hold both of them, so they started falling."

"And how do you and your injuries fit into all of this?"

"I jumped down to save Sunstreaker."

He let out an exasperated sigh. "Why?"

"Moral code, never leave a bot behind."

"Ah, yes, I had that training some mega-cycles later."

"Where were you anyway? I hadn't seen in you mega-cycles before the accident."

He sighed and shook his head. "Goldstreak, there are some things in this world that are better left unsaid. Your queries about my whereabouts fall into those things. Don't ask again." His voice dropped down to a threatening level and it was all happening so suddenly.

"Or what?" I tempted, narrowing my optics at him.

He narrowed his optics right back at me and we glared at each other for some time. "That winged mechanoid's designation is Caveblow."

"Caveblow?" Never heard of him.

"He's a wanted Neutral, highly dangerous. Well, _was_ until you and Sunstreaker offlined him, now he's just another casualty in the war." He simply shrugged. "Tell me more about your fall."

I nodded, knowing better than to ask more questions. "Well, I was on the surface, but Sunny was falling, so I gripped his leg. Unfortunately, I slipped and held myself onto the crook of the surface panel. Somehow his leg slipped and I caught him by the servo. He wanted me to let him go, to save myself, but I couldn't." Silvershot didn't add anything, so I continued. "Eventually, the leverage broke and we fell. The rest is just fixing Sunstreaker, ignoring his complaints and trying to survive."

"But why couldn't I access the bond?"

"We'll ask Ratchet." I shrugged. "I think it may have something to do with energy levels, I remember Perceptor telling me about that, but only faintly." I shook my head, displeased at his demise.

Suddenly, the unlocking pad on the med bay's doors started to beep, but unsuccessfully unlocking. Someone on the outside was fiddling with the codes. I glanced to Silvershot, but he didn't seem to care about whoever was behind the doors. Only he, I and a recharging Sunstreaker were in the med bay and Silvershot probably had Ratchet's permission to stay here.

Suddenly, whoever was picking the lock had managed to break in, closing the doors and locking them on the inside. "About fragging time." The silver mech stated, glancing at me and walking towards me. "Gold, how are you?"

"I'm alright, Sides." I said, giving a kind smile in turn. "Ratchet says I'm on rehabilitation."

"Ratchet Hatchet." Sides snorted in a childish manner, almost making me chuckle. "Where's my morose twin?"

"Over there." I pointed with my finger at where Sunny's berth was placed and where he was lying. "But he's recharging, let him be." I quickly said.

Sides merely nodded in acknowledgement as I watched him as he took in his brother's appearance, the childishness gone from his expression, replaced by complete seriousness. Battered and bruised, but with a leg attached to his frame, Sunstreaker lied on the berth, his chest rising and falling with each breath, his paint no longer scintillating like stars in the night.

Sideswipe came to his brother, taking a chair and sitting next to him, taking his brother's hand into his own and looking at him in the optics, even though they were closed. The two brothers were really close. Perhaps they were all they had left to each other. I wondered what was it like to be somebody's everything.

And then I glanced at Silvershot, who was looking at the scene himself. I took his hand into mine and gently squeezed it, assuring him that I was here and that everything was alright.

For the first time in so many joors, I had seen the faintest hint of a smile on his face.

**So what is your reaction on Transformers: Age of Extinction? For the most part, I loved it. Tell me your opinions on AOE? I'd love to hear your impressions.**

**Written: **

**03.06.2014.**


	23. The Sun Is Rising

**Very long chapter ahead! I think you might find this chapter very likeable, but tell me so in the review. Also, early update because I won't be having internet in a long while.**

**Chapter 23: The Sun Is Rising Also**

_**One joor later…**_

"Hey Gold! You, uh… want to go for a drive with me? Maybe?"

"Of course, Bee. Don't be so shy about it."

He let out a sigh of relief and a small grin, walking next to me. "Thanks Gold. I've been feeling a little bummed lately."

"How so?" I asked as Bumblebee and I were slowly walking out of the Academy and into the large clearing, transforming into our alt modes as we slowly began driving side by side, a rather relaxing action that the other bots had taken after the twins and I had started driving on the clearing. For the most part, everyone liked it.

"New paint?" He asked. "Looks good on you."

"Yeah, gold does suit me, doesn't it?"

"I'd say, you look slimmer and stronger in it." He commented back as we drove side by side, going somewhere random. "Is that… is that _Sunstreaker_'s color?"

"It's his paint, but we darkened it. His is a lighter hue." I then changed the subject. "So what's bothering you? You've been looking rather blue lately."

He gave a sad chuckle at the color wittiness, but started confiding in me. "Well, I don't know what's wrong. I mean, I kind of do, but don't at the same time. You know what I mean?"

"Not at all. Explain."

He exhaled sharply and then started speaking. "Well, it's about a femme."

"It's not that hard to guess, Bee." If it was another problem, he would be straightforward about it and I'm certain it wouldn't have been as complicated as a femme problem.

"Well, she's really nice and I like her a lot. But problem is, Hot Rod likes her too and he may have more chance with getting with her than I do."

I would have rolled my optics at the absurd statement, had I been in my bipedal form. "Bumblebee, Hot Rod is an egotistical aft and don't think for a moment that he is your contender. You can have any femme you want, added that we can get her the right way." I said lightly.

"You'd be a wingman?" Wouldn't be my first time, honestly. And Hot Rod doesn't seem to be getting Arcee's attention anymore. She's not stupid, she probably figured him all out. "But I can't ask you to do that."

"It's not like you're asking me to disobey an order. Just don't worry. It's Arcee, isn't it?"

He stuttered for a moment, but then normally replied with a query. "How did you know?"

"Because you wouldn't dare go for Elita." He laughed immediately.

"But why didn't you think that maybe it was you?"

"Me?" We turned on a corner, enjoying how comfortably our tires rolled on the metal ground in the daylight.

"Yeah, I mean, Hot Rod likes you and all."

"Hot Rod likes many things." I simply stated. He and I had been hanging out less and he completely ceased to flirt to the degree he usually did. All of his attention was on Arcee and she didn't return the flirting.

"But do you have a romantic interest in someone?" He asked me.

Although I did carry a liking towards how Bee was easy to talk to and tell all your worries and problems, I never did tell him anything that bothered me, but I couldn't tell him who had my attention.

"No, I'm not into anybody. The mechs here are all sparklings." And that statement was half true.

"Oh… Arcee must think in the same way, I mean, if you're a femme and you said it, then-"

"No no, Bee, you got it all wrong." I chuckled as I quickly cut him off. I can't have him getting all the wrong ideas. "Arcee and I are very different, I don't know how she thinks." And I don't particularly care. "But start hanging out with her." Like I had started hanging out with Sunstreaker, although we haven't been getting along lately. I had to look into that, there was some sort of problem that I had to solve with him. "And be nice towards her, but that won't be a problem to you, you're a really well behaved bot."

"Oh… wow, thanks Gold. I mean, you usually don't praise out loud."

"Don't get used to it." I said good naturedly. "I don't know if you've seen that prank a couple of joors ago that Mirage and Cliffjumper pulled on Hot Rod."

"How can I forget? Arcee caught them cuddling against a wall!" He laughed out loud, his frame shaking from laughter. "Mirage's prank was brilliant!"

"You see, he's not doing pretty well with Arcee." I swiftly got back to the point.

"But can you ask Arcee if she wants to hang out with me? I mean, you don't have to, but you're the most likely bot on this camp she'd listen to. If you tell her your things, she'd tell you hers."

"You want me to have a spark to sparkwith her." I concluded. "Not happening, Bee."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't share my feelings." And because there's just too much pain in those feelings.

"Have you ever thought that maybe that would be good and that maybe, just maybe, you'd feel better?"

I slowed down to a stop as Bee turned around to face me in his alt, seeing as I was decelerating and falling behind. "Bee, I don't tell these kind of things to anyone because nobody would understand."

"Have you tried?"

"Stop pushing the matter." I threateningly said, transforming into my bipedal mode. He has no idea what the slag I have been through and he's too young and innocent to understand.

He transformed as well and I saw that irresistible look of curiosity on his innocent blue optics that almost begged me to tell them what was wrong with me. But I wouldn't give in and as his manners got the better part of him, he dropped the matter, thankfully. "Sorry I asked. I didn't know you were sensitive on that subject."

Sensitive? Is he _trying _to piss me off? I don't need him telling me what I am and what I'm not and how to deal with my problems. "I think I'll head back." I said, glancing at him one last time. "I have to refuel." I lied as I turned my back on him and walked back. "Good luck with Arcee." I said over my shoulder.

Why was it so hard for me to get along with everybody? They would pity me for being a femme and not being all sensitive and cooing at random things, and because of that, I would get angry. I didn't need their dumb pity. Pity doesn't make you strong, pain makes you strong and it lets you live. And pain leads to scars which honor how brave you are. That was yet another unwritten life rule that I had to learn too soon.

**XxXxXxXxX**

"Hah! You had your aft saved by a femme!"

"Can it, Sideswipe!"

"I'm just _joking_, bro."

"Take your jokes elsewhere."

"Come on, it's nothing to be ashamed of. You have a friend who'd gladly give her life for you." He smacked him on the shoulder in a brotherly manner as the two sat on the couch in their quarters, sipping energon lightly with the TV resounding quietly in the background, as it always did.

"Yes, but would I do the same?" Sunstreaker bit back. "That's the problem, Sides, I don't know if I'd give _my_ life for her."

Sideswipe was silent for a slight moment, giving his brother a curious optic. "Are you a fragging idiot or are you just playing pretend? What kind of a slagging dumb question is that? Of course you'd give your life for her! You owe it to her! Frag it, _I_ owe it to her!"

"What do you owe her? She didn't save you."

"No, but she saved _you_, and I owe her my sibling's life." He turned deadly serious, looking into his brother's blue optics.

"You don't owe her anything and stop this nonsense. Primus, don't you realize how _good_ she is to us? I can't get used to that." Sunstreaker shook his head as he took another sip from the cube, letting the sweet taste sink into his vats.

"That's because you're used to how everybody treated us in Kaon. We were lower than dirt there and here… here, she treats us like we're somebody _special_."

"Or maybe she treats us like she would treat Bumblebee." Sunny shrugged again, relaxing into the couch.

"She treats him nicely, in case you haven't noticed. Besides, I've hung out with him once and he's not half bad, Sunny."

"He ain't not half good, either."

"Come on, what's he done to you?" A mere snort greeted Sideswipe. "See? My point exactly. But see how she treats her subordinates? She treats everybody with respect and I really like that."

"I concur. Also, she doesn't look half bad, now that we're talking about her. That hourglass figure though… Did you see the way her hips move when she walks? Primus, I haven't seen curves like that in stellar cycles. Gold paint really does suit her."

"I saw that, alright. Gold paint on her looks like she was created _just_ to wear that paint." Sideswipe nodded. "What, you want to frag her? If you do, she would be just one of many you've taken to berth. I think you owe her more than that."

But Sunny shook his head at that statement. "It's very confusing, Sides. It's like I _want_ to take her to berth, but at the same time I don't. I've never experienced something like this before." Sunny mused perturbingly. "She makes me think twice whenever I want to do something that I usually do with other femmes."

"What's bothering you? Really, now." Sideswipe wanted his brother to be blunt.

Sunstreaker knew he could tell his brother everything. Almost everything. He was after all, all he had left. "It's like I want to be friends with her. She's gentle with bots, independent, she's fragging strong and talented as a warrior, not to mention she was really bold when she went down that pit hole to get me. She _risked her own life_ to save mine. That's not something I can say everybody would do."

"So what's the problem, then? Go be friends with her."

"I want to be _best_ friends." Sunny nodded to himself.

"So go get her."

"Sides, you know what bots would be saying about me having a _femme_ as a best friend. That would basically make me a femme."

Sideswipe snorted at his twin's dumb remark. "Of course not, don't be ridiculous. Sunny, you two just need to hang out more. She's starting to open up to us, she's begun to smile more than when we had met her."

"Yes, I've noticed that. She does have a nice smile, doesn't she?"

"That she does, bro. And I'd like to see anybody try and mock you. I'll show them the way to the Pit for _just_ doing that."

Sunstreaker couldn't help but smile slightly at his brother's remark. He was really glad that he was all he had left and he would protect him dearly, as he knew the feelings were reciprocated. "I'll go work off the anger. I have no idea what to do with her, she's driving me crazy." He suddenly got up, heading straight for the door, evading the mess of paints, vinyl wraps, brushes, blots and so on. A mess the three of them made when he and Sides had been assigned to paint Goldstreak's armor.

"But she hasn't done anything to you." Sideswipe tracked his every move, confused by his brother's abrupt movements.

"Exactly." And with that, leaving his twin dumbfounded and downright confused, Sunstreaker left their quarters to find something to punch the slag out of. Femmes confused him and he hated being confused.

**XxXxXxXxX**

Instead of heading towards the refueling area, I went towards the twins' quarters. I greeted some bots on the way there and when I made it to their quarters, I knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. I didn't wait long as I knew they were in their quarters, or that at least, one of them was.

"Hey, what's up?" Sides jollily said as he leaned on the doorframe and flashed me a sexy grin.

"Is your brother here? I have to talk to him." I said, bringing up a small smile, just out of decency.

"Sunny's out right now, but you can hang with me if you want, I'm not doing anything." He straightened up, moving aside for me to step into the quarters if I wanted to do so.

"Will he be back soon?"

"Yeah, in a dozen kliks or so."

"Alright, I'll hang with you then." I said as I gave him a gentle smile and entered his quarters. I wasn't surprised when I saw them being a complete mess from when we were using their paint to paint my armor. The only available places to sit on were their berths and the couch, which were grotesquely pristine. I walked over to the berths and sat on Sunny's berth while Sides sat on his own. The rest of the room had been covered with furniture protection and on it were placed various cans of paint in which we were mixing hues a couple of mega-cycles ago, to get the right shade of gold for me. There were also a lot of vinyl wraps, brushes, spilled paint and so on, which sloppily decorated the floor of the quarters.

"So what brings you here?" He asked as he brought up the TV remote from underneath his pillow and switched the channel on the already turned on TV. It again played some background noise that I didn't care listen to.

"I told you, I'm waiting for Sunny."

"I see." He said suggestively. "Just waiting, huh?"

"Don't be annoying, Sides."

"But that's why you like me." I almost snorted.

"Sure." I shrugged, lying on the berth on my left hip, facing Sides as my right leg went over my splayed out left and I rested my right arm on the crook of my curved hip. I was very comfortable and at ease in this position. "What's up with you? Find anything interesting lately?"

"Meh, this Academy is so boring. I couldn't find anything interesting if I looked for it." He said as he turned on his back, looking at the ceiling as I noticed how both he and his twin brother had a stubborn, strong jaw. His bright optics blinked a couple of times, rather calmly for his usual happy-go-lucky and hyper attitude. He just seemed to stare at the ceiling. Was he possibly communicating with his brother? "All we do is train, refuel and recharge." He complained.

"Don't forget how it goes at trainings, stab, retreat, charge, repeat." I smirked.

He groaned and rolled his optics. "I can't get that out of my processor."

"I wonder who made that technique."

"Probably Ironhide, although I don't think he wanted it to rhyme."

I shrugged, my shoulder plates lightly scratching on the metal of the berth. After some silence, I spoke up. "Sides, is everything alright with Sunny?"

He stirred a little before answering, the pause to my question being too long. "Yeah."

He was such an obvious liar. "Let's try this again. Is everything alright with Sunstreaker?" I made it clear that I wasn't buying his act.

"He's been pissed lately." He finally confessed.

"Is he always in such a foul mood?"

"Well, it's been getting worse every other mega-cycle. He's really mad about something, but he won't tell me what. I feel his anger every morning and I even tried ticking him off to have him work it out through a skirmish, but he wasn't up for it. He's even battling it out solo. I don't know what it's really about, but I think I may be onto something. I think he doesn't know how to feel about you."

"I'm the matter?"

"You're strong, independent, eloquent, not to mention you were absurdly brave and wanted to give your life to save his."

I felt praised and I had to hide my slight blush. "Thanks, Sides." I said with a coy grin.

"It's the truth. You know, Sunny and I usually have long talks about you."

"You talk about me?" I couldn't explain the amount of my surprise.

"Well yeah. We're not gonna talk about Arcee, she's too young and well, she's already being molested by Hot Rod."

"I see." I didn't know what to think of that, but I went with it, hoping that he would explain to me what they were talking about and perhaps, Sides had an insight into what was happening with his brother, something that he would perhaps share with me.

"So Sunny doesn't know how to feel about you and maybe that's what's making him like this. I know he's looking for someone to confide in other than me, a lifelong friend, and he believes he can find such a friend in you."

"So what's keeping him from doing so?" I wanted to be more than just friends with him, but you had to start somewhere and things like this take time. Not to mention it was dangerous in the middle of a war, although at the Academy, here, we didn't feel like we were at war, because there were no explosions and no threats. But I was constantly on alert from that day the Neutral, Caveblow, attacked us and brought us somewhat closer. Or perhaps further, because Sunstreaker had been ignoring me for a good while and I was done with waiting for him.

He sighed and shook his head. "He doesn't want to have a femme best friend. Because of those who will mock him."

"Sides, we both know Sunny doesn't give a flying frag about the haters."

At that exact moment, Sunny came straight into the room, stopping in his tracks as the door closed and locked shut on its own accord and he looked at me in shock for an astrosecond, but then his optics turned to glaring. "What is _she_ doing here?"

"She's here because of you." Sides said, sitting up on his berth, his legs dangling over the edge.

"Did you call her?" He angrily asked his brother. Sides shook his head in denial. "What are you doing on my berth?" Sunny said through gritted teeth and I could almost feel the anger radiating through his frame.

"Do you see any other place to sit?" I said, ignoring his violent nature.

"Get off my berth."

Not until you start treating me with respect, I ain't moving a muscle. "I'm not going anywhere." I glared back, ditching the respect part since he ditched it as well. "You watch your tongue, Sunshine, you'll regret it."

He snorted, but walked towards me, the sudden anger pulsing through him with every proud and strong step he took. "What do you want?"

"To know what's with you. Ever since I saved yo-"

"No, get out." He said, glaring at me intensely and cutting me off, as if ashamed that I had saved him. I didn't flinch at his glare, although my sparkbeat increased. Was a nasty fight brewing right now?

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong." I determinedly said through gritted teeth as well as Sides' helm moved from one bot to the other. "You've been ignoring me ever since that accident and I want to know why."

"I don't make wishes come true and this is the last time I'm asking you to leave nicely." He wanted to push me away. Not again.

I sat back down on the berth, crossing my arms and legs, presenting my stubborn attitude and wish to stay. I didn't care if he wanted me out. I wanted to know what was happening and if I could fix it. He was my friend and I saved his life. I cared, and I wasn't letting go of someone somewhat important to me.

"Sideswipe. Get out of the room." Sunstreaker snapped at him, not moving his glaring optics from mine. I wasn't going to subdue. I could win this. I had to win this.

"What are you going to do?" Sides uneasily said.

"Out."

"You don't hurt femmes, Sunny."

"I might make an exception." He growled as I realized just how untamed and wild he was. My sparkbeat increased. "Get out Sideswipe, this is between me and her." He said once more, not moving his feral gaze from my optics.

I sharpened my sensors and kept my claws on standby, in case they needed to slide out, they'd be twice as fast. I was feeling quite uneasy about all of this, but I knew how to defend myself now. At least, I prayed to Primus I knew how to do so. Last time I thought that, Fireblaster got me good. And I really wasn't up for attacking a friend. Was my long ago dreamed dream going to come true? Was Sunstreaker going to attack me?

After Sideswipe reluctantly got out of the room, the door shutting behind him, Sunny and I were still glaring at each other. I realized that his frame had some fresh scratches on his chest, most likely from a fight. Training, perhaps. Neither of us dared utter a word as he slowly moved to Sides' berth, walking carefully and eyeing me like a hunter to a prey, ready to pounce at me at any moment he deemed fit. He sat down on it, glaring at me from it.

"You gonna tell me what this is about?" I queried, not moving my crossed arms or legs.

"No." He growled at me.

"Why the sudden change in behavior?" I asked, not raising my voice too much, lest I wanted to sound too curious and caring. Sides would be eavesdropping, definitely, and Sunny seemed to be aware of that possibility as well.

"You are asking too many questions. Drop the matter and leave."

"I won't be commandeered." I spoke back and I knew now that I had to approach this matter in a different way. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No."

"Then why are you treating me like this? Did I do something wrong to Sideswipe?"

"No." I didn't answer back and he knew what was coming after. It was sort of soothsaid. "Of course, you don't see the reason why things are the way they are."

"You're a complex character, Sunny. I'll give you that. Is your pride getting in the way of telling me the problem?" He wouldn't confess, at least not directly, but he didn't answer. And his silence was a positive answer. "It's only me." I softly said, trying to charm my way through his built up walls and try to crush them down. Just the walls he built recently, his normal walls could stay and he can be as unapproachable as ever, I just wanted things between us to stay on a friendly level. "I won't tell anyone, I promise."

He looked like he was torn between two worlds, so to say. "I know I said I trust you." He suddenly said, breaking the optic contact. "But there are some things that I can't even tell Sideswipe."

"I understand." I nodded slowly. Of course, there were things I couldn't tell Silvershot either and up to a point, I understood his dilemma. "But that doesn't mean you can't try to tell me. When have I ever done something wrong to you or your family?"

"Never." He answered my question. "You've been so..." He didn't finish that sentence, instead, he ended it in an exasperated sigh. This must have been what Sides had been talking about. He didn't know what to say and had mixed feelings about me. "You saved my life and this is how I repay you." He said to himself and hit his head with his hand.

"Sunny, it's okay." I said, standing up from his berth and walking over to him. "I saved your life, it's alright. We're both alive and that's it."

"I owe you my life." He grandiosely said. Yes, it was a big deal, but he took it too far in my opinion.

"And you will repay me when the time comes. Just don't ignore me, I feel like I did something wrong."

"But you didn't."

"I know. But you made me feel like that." I said as I shifted from one leg to the other, standing in front of him, trying to keep my voice soft and very approachable and amicable.

"Sit." He said, scooting over to one side of Sides' berth, letting me sit on the other. I complied as I gently looked at him, my optics darting lower to look at his scratches. Not only was he scratched, but he had a frighteningly large dent on his right chest panel and his windshield was cracked. Who had he been fighting against?

"How did this happen?" I asked as I moved my slender fingers gently over the dent and the scratches.

"Training."

"But we didn't have training." I looked at him, my hand freezing on his chest, not moving from there.

"So?"

"Sunny, how did you get the dent?"

He moved my hand away as he squinted at me. "None of your business."

"It's my business because I don't want you fragging offlin-"

"I do what _I_ want because this is _my_ life."

"The life you owe to _me_." I narrowed my optics at him as well as I felt a tense atmosphere coming up. "Primus Sunny, why can't we just get along?" I brought a hand to my forehead, looking at my knees. After he didn't reply, I turned my head away from him and looked at the messy quarters, looking at them with an optic filled with scrutiny. They were filthy. "Don't you take care of your quarters?" I looked back at him, trying to change the subject.

"What are you, my mother?" He snapped at me. I was slightly taken back by that, but immediately a strong pain met my spark once again as he reminded me that I had lost my mother. Morose thoughts immediately formed in my processors, thoughts of me never seeing her again and never asking her for advice on mechs, ever again. War took away people that we loved, no questions asked. We were living to cope with the losses. "…Gold?"

I sighed out, shaking my head. "Nothing." I lowly said as I had caught myself slightly dozing off.

"I was expecting a retort immediately, but-"

"It's nothing." I looked away, begging my optics not to start watering. It hurt so much when I thought of her. She was my only true friend, the only bot I could confide into. But now she was gone and I would never see her again. And she meant so much to me.

I was beyond surprised when I felt a warm, soft touch on my right forearm. I slowly turned my head, looking at the black colored hand that was on my forearm. I looked to the mech, my optics possibly being wider than usual in bafflement. "I apologize." He said.

I shook my head, putting my servo over his. "It's alright." I said, my voice barely a whisper.

"No, it's not." He shook his head this time, but let his hand linger on my frame. "I know that look in your optics."

"What look?" I played pretend.

"_That_ look. You lost your femme creator, didn't you?"

Now I was really taken aback. I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes in intrigue at him. "How do you know that?" I had to force my vocalizer not to tremble, because it would usually tighten itself when I thought about the loss of bots I knew.

He gave a heavy sigh. "I see that look on Sideswipe's optics from time to time."

Oh frag… I felt bad for the both of them. I let my hand gently grip his over the back of his hand, my fingers slipping through the crook of his index finger and thumb. That meant that they lost their femme creator. And if Sideswipe stared into empty space, then Sunstreaker did, too. There was so much pain with these two. "You can tell me anything, I won't tell anyone. Share your pain, Sunstreaker. I understand." I found my voice being full of sincerity and truthfulness.

"I know that." He said as absolute silence greeted us in the room, except for the occasional voices that came from the TV screen. "I would also like to apologize for my inappropriate behavior. I haven't been fair to you and you have been nothing but polite and patient with me. And with Sides. It's just so fragging weird to us."

"It's weird that I'm polite and patient?" It didn't make sense.

"I'm… well, _we_ aren't exactly used to politeness."

"How so?"

He shifted uncomfortably on the berth, taking his hand back as I let him feel the soft plating of my palm when he was retracting his hand pack. "It's a story for another time." He said, his optics looking at mine once. I nodded in understanding. "I bet Sides is standing behind that door."

"Probably eavesdropping. He thought you were going to murder me."

"I'm not gonna lie, that thought did travel through my processor."

I gave him a look of clear annoyance, but kept it light. "You are so homicidal."

He smirked. "You have _no_ idea."

**I hope you liked this absurdly long chapter that has more than 5.400 words and is the longest chapter I've written for this story yet. Tell me how did you like this chapter and what you would like to see in the future chapters, what you disliked, what you think I could improve and focus on more, and so on. I think I'm doing a pretty good job as it is, but your reviews are extremely helpful. This is your reward for helping me write a better story and helping me become the best authoress I can be.**

**Don't forget to vote on the poll that's on my profile. I will be reminding you of this from time to time.**

**Written:**

**03.06.2014.**


	24. Becoming Someone Else

**This story will be including the movies, that is why it is in this category (Movies - Transformers). Rest assured, I have plans for this story you couldn't imagine and I thank you all for the praise on this story for its originality and other things. It means a ton to me.**

**Legend:**

"Normal talk"

_::Comlink::_

**Chapter 24: Becoming Someone Else**

_**One stellar cycle later…**_

One stellar cycle can make a difference.

A very large one.

It all started when I had a deep conversation with myself about communicating with other bots. I figured something was not working out and that I would end up walking away from bots at the end of a conversation. So I had to fix that and had taken up to talking to myself in the mirror, finding my imperfections in speech, in gestures, facial expressions, octaves and so on and corrected them. I did that every mega-cycle for at least a cycle, and although it took me quite a while, it helped a lot in my interactions.

It took me a lot of thinking and I had to ready plenty of data pads, often having to go to Prowl to pick up new ones. After some time, I began to enjoy reading and became hooked onto it, finding a lot of knowledge behind the coherent sentences. I had never imagined myself as a bookworm, but reading brought me calmness and tranquility and therefore, I liked it. Because of this, I became so much more eloquent and was almost never at a loss of words.

But on the outside, I could proudly say that I had grown in height and muscle. I stood only half a helm shorter than Sunny and Sides, so that was pretty tall, considering how tall, lean and muscular the two were. I had gotten a frame upgrade, adding real swords into my wrists and they would slide out exactly like the twins' swords would. I had a larger and taller frame, curvier armor and I even had a rifle as a secondary weapon. My primary ones consisted of my swords and my claws. Recently, I found out that my specialty was close range and melee attacks. Which is why I dominated the hand to hand course and my skill increased constantly. I had even started to take pleasure in training.

A joor ago, I had my 18th millennia celebration mega-cycle. I was now a fully independent bot and it gave me a sense of freedom, something I liked to experience every once in a while. The word got out to everybody on the base, no doubt because of the twins and their blabbering mouths, and everybody made that mega-cycle a very special one for me. The day had turned to night as high grade was everywhere in my quarters, and there were even some energon goodies, like rust sticks that were sweet and delicious, but extremely hard to find. Somebody had a fresh batch of them and I heard our Special Ops superior, Jazz, stole some from a mission not too long ago. He was a very tricky Autobot. It was peculiar how Prowl didn't ban us from consuming the high grade, but only Jazz was present from the officers. It had been a fun mega-cycle, because all of my friends were there.

On my 18th millennia celebration, Silvershot gave me something. A data pad, but it was encoded. He told me I would know when to read its contents. I didn't know how that would be possible, so I asked him when would I know. He just told me that I simply would. And so with that, the data pad had been stuffed away in my subspace. How I would decode it, I wouldn't know. Perhaps one day I'll figure it out. But regardless of the gifts, we were still soldiers first.

We had missions. Some petty missions, if you asked me. Some included simple patrols, perhaps engaging in battle once or twice with somebody so unimportant that I didn't even remember their designations. I had always hoped my first engagement in battle would be exciting and thrilling and very memorable. It was the exact opposite of what I was hoping to get, so I was disappointed for a few days after the first mission. But now I'm alright, knowing that this is how the missions usually are, containing very little dangerous acts and usually not involving deactivation on either sides.

As for my relationship with everybody on base, things have gotten much, much better. I was putting behind, ever so slowly, my incident with Fireblaster. I wanted to forget it, but not forget the lesson that came from it. Yes, I would always be scarred, but I learned my lesson and didn't want to keep that incident in the forefront of my processor every mega-cycle since the unfortunate event. A long time had passed since I had been raped. Two stellar cycles, to be exact. Time could fly, certainly.

::_Hey Gold, we just got a com from Prowl to come into the main room for a mission briefing. Did ya get it, too?::_

::_Yeah, Sides, I got it. I'll be there soon.::_

_::See you there, spark.::_

I had loved where my relationship with the twins was going. We were very good friends and sometimes, Sunny and I would go on outings solo, without Sideswipe or anybody else accompanying us. I had to admit, those times spent with him brought joy to my spark and I was always in a better mood after he said something so stupid and unlikely for him. He was a completely different bot than from what he led on in public. Nobody dared mock him for having a femme as a best friend. We were training to be the frontliners of the Autobot army, and nobody messed with frontliners. That, and we were the top academics on the base.

At one point, Hot Rod did mock Sunstreaker for hanging out with a femme and even I had gotten irritated with him. Nobody was ever going to mock my friends, and neither I nor Sideswipe would tolerate it. But suddenly, Hot Rod disappeared for a mega-cycle and so did Sideswipe. When they returned, Hot Rod could barely walk and was missing a left forearm, he was sparking all over the place, while Sides was completely pristine. There were tense looks shared between the two, but we never found out the story of what happened.

But of course, everything in life was a double edged dagger. While I was having a great time and being greater friends with my teammates, I was losing my touch with Silvershot. He had grown so distant from me, he refused to talk to me and he even requested we had separate quarters. I never got my answer as to why he would do that, but he just seemed to close himself off from feeling. Sadly for me, his request was approved and wish granted and he had his quarters situated far from mine and we barely ever talked. I wanted to talk to him and look into why he was behaving like that, but he wouldn't let me near him. Being without a friend could do that to you and I was feeling bad for him. He even closed his part of the bond.

::_Get your aft here, the briefing is just about to start.::_

::_I'm already there, Sunshine.::_

::_Don't call me that.::_

::_Don't tell me where to get my aft.::_

A grunt over the comlink greeted me as I entered the main room and joined the circle around a table filled with data pads. There was a holographic projection of Cybertron as everybody stood around it and I followed suit. I situated myself between Sideswipe and Sunstreaker as they let me squeeze in between them. A couple of kliks passed as Arcee and Cliffjumper were the last to get into the main room and then the doors were closed.

"Now that you are all here, let us begin the briefing. This will be a mission like no other you have come across with. You will have to prepare all your knowledge that you have been gathering for the past stellar cycle and a half. This will be rather venturesome, but highly dangerous. There could be casualties." Prowl instructed, slowly moving around the data pad and showing a picture of something, a kind of construction with little dots around it. I didn't know what it was, for I had never seen anything like it, but the three dimensional holographic version was somewhat helpful.

I glanced towards the superiors that were standing in a corner of the room, all of them standing straight with their arms crossed, looking grim and completely serious. "The goal of the mission is to transport several bots to this base safely. But it will not be an easy task, seeing as they are being followed by Decepticons that are currently in disguise." Prowl instructed, fiddling with the remotes on the data pad to zoom in on the objective. "This will be a test of your agility, instincts, morality, bravery, speed and effectiveness. Those who fail will not survive."

The holographic display suddenly changed its presentation and formed four different figures, arranged by height with nametags underneath each figure. The tallest figure of them all stood straight, just as the rest did, but at the mere sight of him, we knew that this was an extremely important mission, one that we must definitely not fail. In an order selected by height, the figures of the great Optimus Prime stood in the lead, followed by a Jolt, Chromia and Moonracer. I knew of Optimus Prime, our leader, and Chromia, and these two of the four Cybertronians were Autobots. I didn't know who Jolt and Moonracer were, but I guess I was about to find out as Prowl continued his briefing.

"We will be executing this mission in exactly two cycles from now, so be prepared and rendezvous here at the appropriate time. This mission must not go wrong." Prowl seriously said, extinguishing the data pad's hologram. "You are dismissed."

With silent gestures of formal acknowledgment, we got out of the room, each bot going their separate way. Hot Rod walked away alongside Cliffjumper, Arcee went away with Bumblebee, Mirage and Jazz went in the same direction and Silvershot was walking behind them slowly. Sunny, Sides and I got out at the same time, but my brother was more important than talking with them right now.

I hurriedly walked over to Silvershot, standing in his way abruptly. He gave me an odd look as he tried to move past me, but I put my foot out and blocked his path. "Would you care to tell me what the slag is going on?"

"You have to prepare yourself for this mission and so must I. Leave me to myself."

"Shot, you've been getting worse."

He gave me a quizzical look. "What?"

"You've been ignoring me and you're becoming more and more introvertive by the astrosecond. Tell me what's going on." I looked at him in the optics perturbingly. "You're really worrying me, Shot."

"Just go." He suddenly said, waving me off. "I have to prepare myself." He walked past me, not even caring to glance at me. I turned around as he walked away and I counted his every step until he took a turn into his quarters, where I lost sight of him. I sighed and shook my head to myself, inwardly wondering had I done something wrong. But I couldn't have.

I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder armor and I turned my head to the right. A black servo with silver plating covering it greeted me. "What's with your bro?" Sideswipe asked.

I shook my head, frowning. "I don't know."

"He's been weird for too long, I gave up on trying to figure out what was with him." Sides shrugged, his hand falling to his side. Well Sides, he's not your brother and you have enough issues with your own. "Do you want to practice formations with me and Sunny? We want to try some new moves with weapons." I nodded and started walking side by side with Sides, Sunstreaker probably already being in the combat quarters.

"You know melee is my domain." I smirked.

"So is ours." He smirked back. I only smiled in return, letting my good nature radiate through my frame and be contagious to the bots around me. But knowing Sides, there was always a good energy radiating from him and he always made me feel content and rather safe when I was around him. I wasn't really up for smiling, but there was nothing else I could do. We were slowly making our way towards the combat training room where Sunstreaker was now, punching a punching bag, his muscles convulsing and flexing with each beat, throw and punch, undulating, as if they were showing off for their owner.

I had stopped walking, too awestruck to move. Sideswipe went away to look at something in the far corner of the room, leaving me alone. As Sunstreaker had stopped with his training and calmed the punching bag by placing his large hands on it, he took a turn towards me. With a deep breath, his chest expanded and made his midsection and perfectly carved abs look entrancing.

"Like what you see, Gold?" I suddenly heard his cocky voice resound through the room, causing Sides to turn around and me to snap from my frozen look. I gave him a cocky smirk and removed an armor plate on my own abdomen, revealing a hidden six pack I bore on my protoform.

"Only if you like what _you_ see." I tempted back as he looked over the muscle and a sexy grin formed on his face plates as he met my optics.

"I'm not gonna lie." He simply shrugged and rubbed his forehead as his vents turned on, cooling his heated frame. "You don't look bad."

That was a spark warming compliment, especially if it came from him. "Thanks."

"Yeah Gold, think fast!" I suddenly heard Sideswipe yell as my sensors sharpened immediately and one of my proximity sensors went off to my right. I didn't have the time to turn to the right as the silver figure jumped on me, starting to play fight with me.

"Get off of me!" I yelled, although my serious voice had disappeared the moment I felt his fingers probe into the seams of my armor, sending chills up and down my spine as he began to slowly tickle me, right on my sensitive plating on the inside of my armor. I had started to laugh as I pushed him off, only for him to come back again at me.

"What'cha gonna do when he comes for you?" Sides chuckled over me as I stopped moving. He? Who is _he_?

"Incoming!" Sunstreaker pounced on us as in the absolute last astrosecond, I managed to dodge his pounce and roll on the ground and he landed on Sideswipe.

"Ow, that's my leg you crazy idiot!" Sides whined as he rubbed his thigh. "I gotta be in perfect condition if I'm gonna be killing 'Cons!"

Sunny merely snorted at him. "So? Big deal." He shrugged as Sideswipe shoved him on the chest plate and Sunny returned the gesture evenly.

I stood up from the cold ground and started to think pensively about the matter at hand. We were going to help some of the Cybertronians come to our base, but Decepticons would follow them. What if they followed them all the way here, even if we thought we had killed them all? Then the Academy would be attacked and we would lose everything. I don't _want_ to kill anyone. I don't. It's a monstrous thing to do.

"Gold, you feeling alright?" Sideswipe asked, getting up from the ground as well, as the two of them ceased fighting.

"No, Sides, I'm not feeling alright." I slightly snapped at him, turning away and heading towards the door.

"Was it something we did?"

"No."

"You want to talk about it?"

"No, I'm just gonna walk for a little." I said as I got out, but I had no doubt that he and his brother had been following me outside. It was dark, no lights had been turned on, perhaps to not attract attention if we were indeed going to evacuate bots.

As my pedes slowly started to walk on the metal ground, I noticed that only the three of us had been outside in this dark. There was a rather nasty storm last night which sent the mud from the polygon all over the metal panels of the ground. It had to be cleaned, but we had more pressing matters at hand than to clean the ground we would most feasibly not be walking on any time soon.

Slowly, I felt my anger seeping out of me and calmness entering my spark. The night had begun to calm my innermost storms. I didn't want bots to die, but we had to prepare ourselves. If we tired ourselves, that would be bad. If we trained and got hurt, that would be worse.

I had stopped walking and just stood in place, inhaling and exhaling loudly and calmly, relaxing as I felt the tranquility of the night embrace me. It was dark now and with no lights, it was even worse for visibility. It wasn't so bad that I had to turn on night vision and face the wrath of Sunstreaker again, thinking I was a bounty hunter ought to get him. It was somewhat bearable, I just needed to adjust the brightness of my optics and everything would be alright.

But seeing as a very hyper Sideswipe was standing in front of me, his blue optics brighter more than usual, and not because of the darkness, that irresistible smirk of his not leaving his face, I immediately knew that he was up for a game that I knew I _had_ to play. Somehow, he would make me, that was just how carefree and happy-go-lucky he was. "Sideswipe…" I started to chide him lightly, but his smirk turned into a devilish grin as he took a step towards me. I took a step back as he took another one forward, quicker than his previous step. The moroseness left me instantnly.

And soon, I began to backtrack as he began to jog towards me, ought to get me. I swiftly turned around and ran away from him as he had begun to chase me. Sunstreaker was standing and admiring his new finish he got a couple of mega-cycles ago, inspecting it for scratches and imperfections. I didn't take him seriously, nor his love and exaggeration for paint perfection. Those who thought he run solely on those factors were dead wrong and knew nothing about him. He was more than just 'I have to paint myself again'.

I ran past him, trying to lose Sideswipe who was laughing the whole time, but I couldn't lie, I was laughing, too. His bright attitude did wonders to rid my morose one. "Sunny!" I called for him but heard no reply. I turned, running back to him. I playfully laughed as I faintly heard something come from him. I continued to run lightly, enjoying the feeling of wind on my frame as I heard him reply to me.

"My name is not Sunny." Suddenly, Sideswipe sprinted towards me as I started to sprint away from him. He was gonna jump me, I knew it, and when he did, I would crash.

"SUNSTREAKER!" I bellowed as my proximity sensors told me Sideswipe was getting closer and if I didn't get out of the way, I'd be tackled.

"Yes?" He mockingly said, knowing full well what was going on.

"Help!" I laughed as I ran past him again, going in large circles around him as Sideswipe came ever nearer.

"Not interested right now. Tomorrow maybe."

"Help or Sides is gonna-oof!" I huffed as Sideswipe tackled me onto Sunstreaker and we spun over each other, all three of us. Sunny was shouting angrily at us, but his shouts died out as mine and Sides' laughs were too loud for his anger.

"See, I'm faster than you." Sides said as we stopped rolling, his frame splayed over his brother's and mine. His legs were on Sunny's abdomen as his torso was on mine. He hefted himself up on his forearms, our chests touching at one point, as he gave me one of those legendary sexy grins that I always smiled at. Sunny and I were lying on the filthy ground, covered in mud, side by side.

"As if." I said as I heard Sunny snort, not at all enthusiastic about this game. I took a handful of mud and shoved it onto Sunny's chassis as Sides watched from his pushup position, which I found slightly attractive. "Here Sunny, have some." I splayed the mud all over his frame as at first he was too shocked to react, but then Sideswipe stood up clumsily, unfortunately slipping on the mud and falling down unceremoniously on his aft and sending mud flying straight onto me and Sunny. I laughed so hard, like I haven't laughed in stellar cycles and it had felt so beautiful to laugh again, freely so.

"Sideswipe, you fragging idiot!" Sunny roared at him. "Sleep with your optics open tonight!" Sunny growled and warned, while I chuckled this time.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard as soon, we saw black and white pedes stand in front of the three of us. "You three. Racks, now."

"Yes, sir." We answered to Prowl as we got ourselves up, Sunny having to grab my forearm and heft me up, as so much mud had been shoved under my pedes they had gotten extremely slippery. I let go of him as soon as I caught my balance and Prowl escorted us to the wash racks.

"You are extremely unserious about this matter." Prowl commented, not appointing the comment to anyone in particular as he continued to escort us. "You have a mission you must prepare yourself for, and now you are running around like crazed bots. What is with you?" Prowl lectured, but nobody really listened to his lectures. Ever.

"I told you it'd be fun." Sides nudged Sunny and me, but got greeted with an unfriendly growl from his brother.

"After you've cleaned yourselves, rendezvous with the rest of the team. We will be leaving soon."

"Yes, sir." We said in a chorus as we went to the racks and he didn't get in with us, no need to anyway. We weren't sparklings, we knew how to wash ourselves. Although, this was just a rinse and not deep washing, the kind that included stripping off our armor and getting bare to the protoform. Rinsing just involved taking a solvent and washing it all over us. It was a standard method of cleaning that included no intimacy whatsoever.

"I have streaks of silver all across my paint." I said as I noticed my breast plates being adorned with light silver scratches from Sides' paint, from when he had tackled me.

"Ditto, I got gold paint, but I can't tell who's is it." Sides said, looking over his broad chest.

"It's not like it matters." Sunny shrugged as he turned off the tap and took a towel to take off the excess solvent off of him and as he soaked the solvent and the other washing liquids, it was clear he was unhappy his paint had been chipped. I did the same as a couple of kliks later, we were all out of the washing racks and were walking to the refueling area. In a silent agreement, we had agreed to take a cube of energon and then rendezvous in the main room to be debriefed once more.

I prayed to Primus nobody would get hurt. We just had to get through this, get the four bots here and be done with this. That was the plan and it must not go awry. I looked to Sunstreaker, who had been drinking his cube with Sideswipe, the two brothers talking about something.

No. I definitely didn't want this mission to go awry. I didn't want to lose these two lovable loons.

**Written:**

**05.06.2014.**


End file.
